Wolf Boy x Ghost Girl
by DiscordianSamba
Summary: AU. Fate's a strange thing. When the person who gets caught up in the portal accident is Sam, and not Danny, he still doesn't find himself scott free of supernatural strangeness. With an old friend of his father's up to no good, a devious school therapist, and two hunters that just won't quit, the budding couple has found themselves in a world of trouble.
1. A Twist in Fate

Author's Note: So I did promise brand spanking new stories to go along with some rewrites of old ones and continuations, and this is one of them! This actually two plot ideas in one, with a sprinkling of other various ideas. One, which is a plot idea rescued from Moonlit Bane, an old fic that didn't work out, have Danny as a werewolf. Two, have someone other than Danny become half ghost- in this case, I chose Sam. So the two plot ideas ended up being merged together for practicality, because what is Danny Phantom without ghosts? Also thrown in was the idea of Danny being more open to Jazz, and Sam and Danny dating from the onset, as well as using Spectra as the much more subtle ghost that she should be.

There is a sketch up on DA, related to this, really hard to miss because uh, it's the first one in my gallery, atm. Link to my DA is in my profile.

Danny Phantom isn't mine, as always! But y'all should know that by now. Read and review if y'all like! Bekuki out~

* * *

Wolf Boy x Ghost Girl

Chapter One: A Twist in Fate

"Sam~" Her boyfriend whined, hands shoved in the pockets of his hoodie vest, glancing about the goth bookstore with nervous eyes. "How much longer is it going to take before you decide on which version of the same collection of depressing poems you want?" He asked her, half pouting as another customer sent a glower at him.

Fourteen year old Sam Manson chuckled, looking up from the two books in her hands. "They're not the same, that's why I'm having such trouble deciding, Danny." Holding up the two books in front of him, she waved the first one, held in her left hand. "See, this one has more poems, but the quality of the book isn't as good. This one," she said, waving the second one, "...has less poems, but it comes along with some pretty nice illustrations and it's hard backed." Putting her hands down, she smiled at him a little. "So you see, it's a tough decision."

"Ah yes, quality versus quantity. Why don't you get the second one, it looks more like your style anyways? You keep opening it up to stare at the pictures anyways." Fifteen year old Danny Fenton pointed out.

"Hm, you might be right." Sam mused, looking over it, turning it over in her hands. "I suppose I could also buy both- but that just seems so _wasteful._"

"Well could you make a decision fast before they kick me out for being too colorful?" Danny asked her in a low voice, glancing behind him at the cashier that was glowering at him. He waved nervously at them, which only got a snort, and caused Danny to awkwardly pull his hand back, rubbing the back of his neck and staring at the floor.

"They're not going to kick you out, Danny." Sam rolled her eyes. "Not if they want my business anyways." She mumbled underneath her breath. "But I get it, I get it. I don't want to make you more nervous than you already are. I don't know why you decided to date a goth if they apparently intimidate you so much." She observed, violet gaze sliding towards him, before she put the first book back on the shelf, having decided on the second one.

"I am _not _intimidated by goths." Danny said, crossing his arms, huffing a little. "I just don't like people glaring at me. It just so happens that goths are _really good at that._"

"Well, just hold on a little while longer while I go and buy this." Sam told him, holding up the book. Smiling a little, she stood on her tiptoes, giving Danny a quick peck on the cheek. Grinning as it seemed to automatically perk him up, she headed towards the register, giving the cashier a cool stare of her own as he checked her out. He somewhat melted underneath it, and sheepishly handed her newly purchased book to her. Turning on her heel, she walked back to Danny, taking his hand. "Come on, let's go!"

Grinning as they left, Danny took Sam's hand, giving it a light squeeze. "Finally, some fresh air!" He said, stretching once they got outside, taking in and letting out a deep breath. "Sam, I love you and all, but I hate that place. The only reason I ever go anywhere near it is because of you."

"I know, I know. You're a very good boyfriend, Danny." Sam assured him, quirking an eyebrow at him. "I appreciate it."

"You'd better!" Danny joked, flashing a quick grin at her, which earned him a light punch to the side. "Anyways, shouldn't we be heading back to school now? Lunch break is almost over, and Mr. Lancer will have our hides if he found that we snuck out during it. You already know he's _always _on my case."

"Oh yeah, you're right." Sam said, glancing down at her cell phone. "Don't worry, we've still got plenty of time. Besides, you know Tucker's covering for us, right? There's technically no rules about going off campus during lunch, either."

"Yeah, for _seniors_." Danny pointed out, then rolled his eyes. "And football players and cheerleaders, I guess." He added. "Dash and his pals sneak off all the time during lunch, and nothing ever happens to _them_."

"Maybe Mr. Lancer wouldn't be so hard on you if you weren't late to school all the time, Danny." Sam pointed out. "Not to mention if you would stop falling asleep."

"No, he stopped bothering me about that after mom explained it to him." He said, waving a hand. "Some people aren't morning people, I however, am just in general not a _day _person."

Sam laughed a little at that, as the pair strolled back to Casper High. "Ah yes, your overly complicated medical condition with an overly long name that seems determined to make you nocturnal." She quirked an eyebrow. If she recalled what Maddie had said in layman's terms, it was something about being too irritable at night to sleep properly, followed by a strong desire to sleep during daylight hours. "I'm surprised Mr. Lancer bought that. If I weren't your friend, I would suspect that your mom was just covering up for your lousy sleep habits. You weren't like this in middle school, after all." Sam noted.

"It came on with puberty, I guess." Danny told her, rubbing the back of his neck with a small laugh. "I understand it just about as much as you do. Like you said, the information was all mostly a bunch of mumbo jumbo to me. They might as well have been speaking Portuguese."

"That's no good, Danny! You should try to understand more about your own condition." Sam lectured him lightly, wagging a finger. Cutting through the park, the couple soon closed in on the back of Casper High, carefully sneaking back on campus, out of view of the security cameras that were located on the outside of the buildings. They weren't all that hard to avoid when you knew where they were, and half of them were duds anyways. It was, after all, not the first time they had done this.

"Of course I understand." Danny huffed. "I can't get to sleep at night, and when I finally conk out, I'm out like a light. Well, I've got study hall for first period this year, so it's not that big of a deal when I oversleep. And then I just go home after hanging out with you and Tucker after school, and conk out. Something about something making something complicated, and," he waved a hand, "I've got the basics of it, okay?"

"If you insist." Sam smiled at him as they slipped into the building through a back door. Tucker had severed the alarm at some point, and nobody had ever really noticed it. Slipping back in with the students in the halls, Danny walked Sam towards her next class. "And see, we got back in plenty of time. They haven't even let out our lunch yet."

"Ah, so you were right again, I guess." Danny laughed, then blinked, suddenly recalling something. "Oh, that's right, Sam! You and Tucker should come over to my place this evening." He told her.

"Oh?" Sam asked, arching an eyebrow. "I'll pass it on to Tucker, but why? From the sounds of it, it seems like something is going on."

"There is!" Danny said, sounding a little bit excited. "My folks have made some sort of big invention. I guess they said it was supposed to be some kind of Ghost Portal or something?" He told her. "Although you know how my folk's inventions normally work out," he rolled his eyes, as if silently saying 'not at all', "...I think this one might actually work! I mean, they've been working on it for months after all, so it's got to do _something_."

Suddenly, Sam found herself picturing an overly excited puppy, ears perked and tail wagging, and suppressed the laughter the image brought to her. Cat person though she might be, there was something irresistible about a happy puppy. "A ghost portal, huh?" She asked, quirking an eyebrow. "Well, I guess that _does _sound kind of interesting, even if ghosts are _so_ mainstream these days. You really think it's going to work?"

"All signs point to yes at the moment!" Danny told her, grinning from ear to ear. "At least, judging from the way my parents are acting. They've never been this excited by an invention before. Apparently they managed to create some kind of prototype portal back in their college days, but it was only like this big." Danny said, showing it's size with his hands. "This one, however, is huge! Taller than me at any rate. Wide enough to fit my dad. Two dads, maybe."

Sam let out a low whistle, which caused Danny to wince a little, reaching to rub one of his ears. "Well, I'll definitely come, and I'll talk Tucker into it as well. Are your folks planning to make dinner for all of us, or should we grab a bite to eat before we come over?" She asked him.

"Oh yeah, mom's planning a huge spread for everyone. I made sure she has some vegetarian things for you too, Sam." Danny assured her, giving her a quick grin. "I know how you feel about animal products."

"Good, then I'll spare you a lecture." Sam joked, looking up as the bell rang, indicating that lunch was over. "Oops, that's me I guess. I'll see you this evening then, Danny." She told him, giving him another quick peck on the cheek before she retreated into her classroom.

Danny watched her go, waving a hand as she ducked into the door. Turning on his heel, he headed towards his own classroom, mind lost on the exciting events that would be this evening. His sister might have not been looking forward to this, but he sure was. Besides, even if it turned out not to work, what was the worst thing that could happen? It wasn't like it was going to blow up the house or electrocute anyone or anything. He didn't know about his father, but he was pretty sure his mother would have made sure that wouldn't happen.

Right?

* * *

"Danny, my boy!" Jack Fenton nearly pounced on his son as he entered the house. "Did you invite over Sam and Tucker like I asked? I want as many witnesses as possible to the activation of the Fenton Ghost Portal!" The large man declared, grabbing his son by the shoulder, giving him a squeeze. With one arm stretched out, he moved it slowly through the air in front of him. "Just imagine, all the secrets of ghosts that we've been looking for, just a few hours away! Isn't that exciting?"

"Euch, dad, before that, you should consider taking a shower." Danny's nose crinkled up, pushing away from his father. "You reek of that- that whatever you use in the lab. That glowy green stuff."

"Ectoplasm?" Jack sniffed himself curiously, frowning. "No, I think that smell might just be you, son. I don't smell anything at all! Actually," Jack paused. "I never knew ectoplasm even had a scent. You never told me!" He declared, slapping him on the back. "But, I'll go shower up for your sake, Danny boy, don't want you to have to spend the whole day wearing a clothespin over your nose."

"Thanks." Danny grinned at him a little, before yawning. "Where's mom?" He asked, pushing aside the growing urge to sleep. He had already conked out during his math class that afternoon, much to the displeasure of his teacher. Sniffing a little, he tilted his head to one side. "No, wait- she's in the kitchen, isn't she? Already getting started on dinner?" Another sniff. "Oh, we're having roasted turkey, aren't we?" He asked his father.

"That's right!" Jack nodded his head. "Roast turkey, mashed potatoes, my favorite kind of sausage, and I think some things for your little girlfriend as well. At least, she bought all kinds of weird things for some fancy salad today. And of course, for desert, pie and fudge! Lots and lots of fudge."

Danny laughed a little. "How's the work on the portal done?" He asked his father.

"Just have to put some finishing touches on it once your mother gets done checking on the turkey." Jack said. "It's going to change history, Danny boy! Just you wait and see, I'll make all of those folks who laughed at us apologize for it all!"

"That'll be the day." Seventeen year old Jazz Fenton observed, coming into the house behind her brother. "I mean, really dad, _ghosts_?"

"You said the same things about werewolves." Danny commented dryly. When that earned him a glower from his sister, she shrugged his shoulders. "Well you did. Look how _that _turned out."

"No, see, I'm willing to accept werewolves because they have biological basis. I mean, once you put aside that whole messy _mass _business." Jazz said, waving a hand. "I still haven't figured that one out yet, you need to let me run some more tests, Danny! But that said, you're not going to convince me that ghosts exist. How can something with no tangible form be real? I don't mean to spit all over your life's work dad, but I don't buy it."

"Well, I'll show you a thing or two tonight, little missy!" Jack told her, nodding his head. "Isn't that right, Danny? Danny's excited about my portal." He half pouted, upset that his daughter didn't share in his enthusiasm.

"I'm just saying Jazz, there are things out there we don't understand." Danny told her. "C'mon, you should have more of an open mind. Wouldn't it be fun if there were ghosts? For one thing, everyone would stop thinking mom and dad are crackpots." The last part was muttered underneath his breath, loud enough only for Jazz to hear.

"Well, that's true I suppose." Jazz mused over that one for awhile, wondering which would be better- not being the daughter of crazy parents, or having been wrong about ghosts. Dealing with being wrong about werewolves had been bad enough, and she still wouldn't believe it if one weren't staring her in the face at the moment. As if to further remind this of her point, the moment she shut the door, out they came, a fluffy, black tail, and black wolf ears and the claws and fangs. Instead of the normal azure, golden yellow eyes stared back at her, the eye whites now a black color.

It had been two years now, since her younger brother had become, of all things, a werewolf, a creature which Jazz had thought was out of fiction until it actually happened. They were on a camping trip in celebration of Danny's upcoming entrance into high school, when they had encountered it. Jazz and Danny had been gathering firewood when they crossed paths with the largest wolf either of them had ever seen. It could have been her, almost had been her, but Danny had gotten in the way, and taken a large bite to the shoulder for his troubles. The giant wolf that had done it had slunk off after being blasted by one of her father's inventions (apparently, although they were designed for ghosts, they could also be used to frighten off large animals), and for awhile the Fenton family thought that their son might die from his injury.

Now of course, there wasn't a trace left of it, it had healed over as if it hadn't happened. Jazz could still vividly remember the huge bite wound, seeping blood, flesh torn from the shoulder, leaving muscles and bone exposed. If werewolves were still a myth, a creature out of fantasy, then her brother would have surely died that day. But they existed, oh they did, and ever since that day, nothing in the Fenton family had exactly been normal again.

_Well, _Jazz thought to herself, _We've __**never **__been a normal family. How many kids have parents whose chosen profession is 'ghost hunter'?_

Yes, her little brother had become a werewolf. _Thankfully _it turned out that the horror movie styled thing they had first encountered was an exception and not the rule, and most werewolves, while rather territorial, were generally placid. Adjustments needed to be made, and things had been very strange indeed for awhile. But in the past year or so, things had calmed down, and the Fenton family had fallen back into a new routine, growing accustomed to their son's sometimes odd new behavior. Danny had adapted quickly enough, and Jazz had to admit, being able to observe the behavioral patterns of a werewolf was _fascinating. _It was a paper she would never be able to publish, but it enthralled her none the less.

If nothing else, it meant that she and Danny had been speaking to each other more these days. Jazz had become Danny's confident in his various day to day problems, and she'd learned a lot about her little brother. She was the natural choice of course, what with her father being rather clueless and scatterbrained at times, and her mother still being too much of a scientist for Danny's tastes. While her interests ran towards ghosts, sometimes getting help from her felt a tad impersonal, a tad too scientific method.

"Well," Danny yawned again, feeling tiredness wash over him. "If it's all the same to you guys, I'm going to go conk out until Sam and Tucker get here. Supposed to be nocturnal and all that."

"Go on and get your rest, son!" Jack told him, giving him another slap on the back. "You'll need it! Tonight's going to be a big night! It'll change our lives forever!"

"Well, hopefully not too much." Jazz observed, arching an eyebrow. "I think two massive life changing events in two years is too much."

"Aw, come on Jazzarincess, you have no sense of adventure!" Jack pouted, as his son head wearily up the stairs.

Tossing his book bag in one corner of the room and pulling off his boots, Danny promptly collapsed on his bed. "Ugh, when I'm an adult, I am so totally finding a job I can do on night shift." He mumbled to himself, rolling over on to his back, his tail retreating so it wouldn't be crushed. Within a few minutes, he was out cold, snoring a little. Jazz groaned when she came in a few minutes later, muttering something about poor sleeping posture and went to grab a blanket, tossing it over her brother.

"Night little brother." Jazz whispered, not wanting to wake him up. Turning off his lights, she shut his door, before heading back into her own room. If someone had told her three years ago that she would be keeping a detailed record of observations on the behavior and physiology of werewolves, she would have suggested mental help to them. But here she was, flipping open a worn looking journal, picking up where she had left off. She had started it after Danny's first transformation, the morning after which was her first real chat with him.

Nobody had _seen _the first transformation, but everyone had heard it. Jazz shivered as she recalled the sounds, the agonized screams, the howls, the sounds of bones shifting into places they shouldn't. It was almost more than she could bear, and she forced the sounds aside. Nowadays, his transformations had been much quieter. His den mother had said that the first one was always the worse, after all, and she was glad for it.

What worried Jazz, however, was the fact that Danny had yet to tell either of his two friends. Her concern increased when she had learned that Sam had asked Danny out half a year ago, and the two of them had become boyfriend and girlfriend. He was keeping it from them, and Jazz just didn't think that was healthy. Keeping it from people who didn't know him was one thing, but from his own best friends, the kids he'd known since childhood? That was different.

It wasn't like Jazz couldn't understand his reasoning, oh no, she could. If Tucker knew, he would accidentally let it slip to Sam for sure. As for Sam... well, Sam was afraid of wolves. Rather, it wasn't just simple fear, a simple fear could be gotten over with rational thinking and logic. No, what Sam had was a full blown phobia, which would sound strange coming from a girl who was otherwise an animal lover. Jazz didn't really know the details herself, but there was something about going to a summer camp when she was a little girl, and something about a 'pet' wolf some rich maniac was keeping getting loose. Someone had obviously had gotten hurt, and Sam had apparently seen the whole thing. More than enough to give someone such a strong phobia, Jazz reasoned.

So, no, it wasn't like she couldn't understand her brother's apprehension about telling her. Phobias weren't _logical_, after all, even if were someone she knew and trusted, someone she loved, cared for deeply, even someone like Sam might have trouble accepting the truth. Getting her to _believe _in werewolves would be the easy part, getting her to be not afraid of them? That was considerably harder, and would require therapy.

It wasn't that she hated them. Not anymore, at least. When distanced from wolves, she could think of them as simple animals, distancing herself from her own memories. She knew, now that she was older, the circumstances surrounding what she had witnessed, that it was an exceptionally rare thing. Sam would even rally in support of saving the wolves, provided she didn't have to go anywhere near one. She seemed _fine _with large dogs as well, save for breeds like the husky, which looked too much like wolves for her own comfort.

"Maybe I should offer her some free sessions." Jazz considered aloud, tapping her pen against the desk, then shook her head. "No, no. An amateur trying to work with phobias would do more harm than good. Sam would need actual professional help to overcome her phobia."

So yes, even though she understood her brother's reasoning, there was still a part of Jazz that thought he should tell her anyways. It would be worse if Sam found out on her own, she thought. She knew that Danny didn't like having to lie to Sam and Tucker, dodging around the truth. It was harder for him in the first few months, when he had to adjust to everything getting louder, all five of his senses having enhanced. It was hearing and smell that caused him the most problems, especially smell. There had been a time when someone had pranked the boy's locker room, throwing in a stink bomb. Danny hadn't been able to get the smell out of his nose for at least a month afterwards, well after everyone else had gotten over it. And he hadn't even been in the _room _at the time.

Jotting down a few more words, Jazz shut her journal, placing her pen back down on her table. Glancing over at her alarm clock, she noticed that an hour had passed. Time sure flew when you were mulling over things, she thought to herself, shaking her head and getting up from her chair. Sam and Tucker would be here in an hour, she would have to remind herself to wake Danny half an hour before that. Truth be told, she was worried about the effects of keeping something that should have been nocturnal awake during the daytime, but Danny seemed to handle it pretty well. She just wished he would stop falling asleep in class all the time because of it.

Maybe when she had some free time after all this Ghost Portal nonsense, she could get her mother to look into a way to help Danny with that.

* * *

"Was that really necessary, Jazz?" Danny grumbled, rubbing one of his ears, wolf eyes glaring at his older sister. "I know I'm hard to wake up, but surely you could have done something other than use a_ blow horn_?"

"I tried calling you ten times, Danny." Jazz told him, eying him. "And gave you several shakes as well, and you still wouldn't wake up. You don't want Tucker and Sam to come here while you still have these out," she said, reaching over to lightly tug on one of Danny's wolf ears. "Do you?" She asked him, quirking an eyebrow.

"Eugh, point taken, I guess." Danny made a face, but his wolven features retracted, eyes turning back to normal. He wasn't sure when it was that he had found himself being more comfortable in his 'halfway' form, but it had been the case lately. He felt as if there was always something missing in his 'human' form, and not being able to talk in his wolf form was downright _inconvenient_. It was a little strange, Danny admitted, how quickly he had gotten used to things, but now he felt back at home in his own skin once more.

It had been hard the first few months, that was for sure. As if entering high school and going through puberty on it's own wasn't bad enough, but having to do it while you were adjusting to being a werewolf? Not fun.

"So Tucker and Sam will be coming over in half an hour or so?" Danny asked, heading down the stairs. He could hear his parents messing around in the lab again, and grinned a little at the sounds.

"That's right. Mom and dad are planning to have dinner first, and then to start up the Ghost Portal after dessert." Jazz told him. "Not that I think it'll work. I hope they aren't too disappointed when it doesn't, though."

"You sound so sure that it won't." Danny observed, arching an eyebrow.

"That's because I am. Look Danny, I love our parents, but I just don't share their belief in ghosts." She told him frankly. "If they manage to prove to me they're real with this though, well..." She frowned. "I guess I'll owe them an apology, but until that happens, I remain a skeptic."

"Suit yourself." Danny shrugged his shoulders. "I for one, am excited about this!" He told her. "I mean, if there are ghosts in Amity Park, I'll definitely seem less weird in comparison."

"Oh Danny, you aren't _weird_." Jazz assured him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You're still a perfectly normal kid. No amount of animal influence can change that. You shouldn't worry so much about what other people think."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Danny shrugged his shoulders, before cocking his head to the side. "Oh hey, they're here already! Good thing you woke me up when you did, Jazz!" He told her, bounding over to the door. As if suddenly remembering that he shouldn't be able to hear their approach through the door, he restrained himself from flinging the door open then and there. A knock came a few moments later, and Danny opened it up, grinning as he saw his friends. "Hey, you two made it!"

"Of course we did, dude. Wouldn't miss it for the world." Tucker said, coming inside. Sam followed behind him.

"You sure you're not just here for mom's cooking?" Danny asked him, grinning a little.

"That might be a part of it." Tucker admitted. "But I don't know, the Ghost Portal does sound kind of interesting. Like exactly what kind of tech needs to go into it to make it work?"

"Are we having dinner first, or dealing with the portal?" Sam asked Danny, as Tucker exchanged greetings with Jazz.

"Dinner. Mom made some kind of real fancy salad for you Sam, so I hope you're hungry." Danny reported to her.

"Hey Danny, speaking of food, you better save some of that turkey your mom made for me!" Tucker called over to him, which caused his friend to roll his eyes.

"Relax. She made two. There will be plenty to go around." Danny told him. It wasn't _his _fault that werewolves were big eaters- and carnivorous to boot. Unlike Tucker, who only liked to claim that he was a carnivore, Danny found himself having a great deal of trouble digesting anything that wasn't meat. It sure meant hell for their food bills though.

"_Sweet_." Tucker grinned, heading on into the kitchen, salivating at the thought of Maddie's cooking.

Sam, Danny and Jazz followed behind them, and were soon joined by Maddie and Jack. The two ghost hunters joined them at the table, and dinner began. They exchanged any number of topics, swapping questions about the Ghost Portal, a bit of teasing at Danny and Sam's expense. The rest of the occupants at the table got a little lost once Maddie and Tucker started to discuss the tech that went into the Ghost Portal. Overall it was a pleasant dinner, the mood equal parts light and excited. Once they were done and had dessert, it was time to head downstairs to the basement.

There, Maddie and Jack warned their children and their friends to stand back at a safe distance as they started it up. Danny and Sam exchanged looks as his parents went about the process of starting up the portal, grinning at each other. Danny took Sam's hand in his own, his own excited mood being somewhat infectious. Even Jazz had to admit that she was starting to get just a little bit excited- I mean, what if it really did work? If it did, if that were the case, then it would be a huge discovery.

"Alright, Maddie, stand back!" Jack called out after a few minutes, grinning broadly as he held a remote control of sorts in his hands. "I'm going to start this puppy up!"

"Just a few moments Jack, let me make a few final calculations." Maddie informed him, typing away at their computer. Satisfied with what she had done, she finally stepped back, and gave her husband a thumb's up.

"Alright kids, get ready to witness the first glimpse into a strange new world!" Jack called out, glancing over at the gathered teens, before he flipped a switch.

There was a grinding nose then, followed quickly by the _whirr _of something starting up. The portal gave off a few green sparks, before alighting in a sea of green- and then just as quickly, there was a spark from inside the portal, and the whirring nose came to a sudden halt, the sea of green fading away. The portal sputtered and died, before all light finally faded from it.

"I don't understand." Maddie said, sounding perplexed as she walked back over to the computer. "It _should _have worked. All the calculations were in order." She frowned deeply, going over her documentation. Jack, meanwhile, once again tried to start the portal, but he couldn't even manage to get it to boot up this time, it was unresponsive.

After a few minutes of puzzling over what could have gone wrong, Maddie finally sighed, and turned back towards the gathered teenagers. "I'm sorry kids, it looks like we're not getting the portal started tonight at all. And I know you were all so excited for it. Something is obviously wrong though, but don't you worry, we'll get it working soon enough." She told them, and despite the smile on her face, all those gathered could hear the disheartened tone in her voice. She had been so sure, _so sure_ that it would work, and she just couldn't wrap her head around what had gone wrong.

Danny and Sam exchanged a look, before glancing over at Tucker, who likewise frowned. Danny's parents had been so excited about this, and now everything had gone up in smoke, months of hard work and planning. It was... more than a little depressing to watch, to be honest.

"Mom, dad?" Jazz spoke up, glancing over at her brother. "Why don't we go upstairs for now and have you two get some fresh air?" She suggested, sensing their mood. "Maybe if we go for a walk, it'll clear your heads, and you'll be able to find the solution to the problem."

"What do you think, Jack?" Maddie asked, glancing over at her husband. "It sounds like a good idea."

"Yeah, let's go for a walk. Jazz, why don't you come with us?" Jack asked her. He seemed grateful, at least, that his daughter wasn't rubbing in their failures into their faces. Jazz, on the other hand, now felt a little guilty for saying that it wasn't going to work with such resolution earlier. She didn't exactly realize how depressed they would get if it really ended up not working. She couldn't help but feel more than a little guilty about it, in spite of the fact that she had nothing to do with how things had turned out.

"Of course." Jazz said, glancing over at Danny and his friends. "What about you guys?" She asked.

"We'll stay here." Sam said quickly. When people looked at her a bit oddly, she laughed a little. "I mean, this is clearly a family affair- and it's still messy from dinner upstairs. The three of us would be more than happy to clean up the mess for you guys!" She said, elbowing Tucker when he tried to interject that he did, in fact, mind having to clean up after dinner.

"That would be lovely, Sam." Maddie smiled over at her. "We'll be back soon, so call us if anything happens." She told them, before the ghost hunting couple trudged back up the stairs. Jazz hurried after them, pausing to spare a look towards her brother. He glanced back at her, as if silently promising her that they would stay out of trouble.

Once they were gone, however, Sam turned back towards Tucker and Danny, clapping her hands. "Okay you two. Here's the plan. We're going to look over this thing and see if there's anything they missed."

"Really, Sam?" Tucker arched an eyebrow. "They already did that. What makes you think that we'll understand this thing better than the people who invented it will? It may just never work at all, you know." He added.

"No, I think it was going to work." Danny said. "You saw it, didn't you? That green stuff? It sure looked like something was trying to happen, at any rate. I don't think we should give up so easily." He frowned, glancing towards Sam. "On the other hand, I also think it's better not to mess with stuff that we don't fully understand." He warned her.

"Oh come on Danny." Sam laughed, dismissing the notion. "What's the worst that could happen?" She asked him. "I'm sure it'll be just fine. Look, your parents even left some spare hazmat suits behind, if you're so worried about protection." She said, pulling one off the rack, then blinking and looking down at it. "Hey, purple and black. Did they actually make this for me?" She wondered aloud.

"You know, I think they might have." Danny told her, grinning a little. "Why don't you try it on? Hazmat jump suits might be a look that works on you." He joked.

"Oh hush you." Sam shot him a look, but continued to look over the hazmat suit. "Well, maybe once might not hurt. And if I'm going to be poking around this thing, I'm sure I'll need some kind of protection. I mean, your parents wear their hazmat suits for a reason, right?"

"Really?" Tucker asked. "I always thought they just had lousy fashion sense."

"Yeah, that's sort of what I thought too." Danny admitted, sounding a little sheepish about it. Sam merely rolled her eyes at the two of them, removing her shoes and putting on the hazmat suit. She then pulled her shoes back over it, turning around a bit in it.

"Hm, perfect fit. That's a bit eerie, actually." Sam mused, frowning a little, wondering where the Fentons had gotten her measurements from. "I like it though! It's actually a lot more comfortable than I expected it to be."

"Maybe I should try on one too!" Tucker grinned, pulling another one off the rack, noting that it was made to be yellow and green. "Huh. I guess they made one for me too. Are your parents really that bored sometimes or something?" Glancing over at the rack, he spotted one meant for Jazz, as well as spares for Jack and Maddie. Quirking an eyebrow, he glanced over towards Danny. "Where's yours though?"

"Oh, um." Danny blinked, laughing a little. "I'm fine without one. Just- just don't worry about it, okay." He waved a hand, dismissing the subject. How was he exactly supposed to tell them that he didn't have to worry about radiation exposure because his enhanced immune system would automatically reject it.

"Well, alright, suit yourself." Tucker shrugged his shoulders, putting his own. "Hey, Sam was right! This _is _strangely comfy!"

"I'm going to go look inside of the portal." Sam told them. "Tucker, why don't you and Danny go check the wiring or something?"

"Can do!" Tucker grinned, giving Sam a mock salute. Exchanging a look with Danny, the two of them headed over towards where all the wiring in the lab went. Glancing over at his older friend, Tucker nudged him, eyeing Sam. "So, what do _you _think of that, huh? Form flattering, isn't it?"

Danny's face flushed red, and he couldn't help but steal a glance over towards Sam, who was studying the outside of the portal carefully. "Well, I can't say that I'm entirely opposed to it." He admitted. "But don't _you _stare at her, got it?" He half-growled the last part, enough so that it caused Tucker to flinch a little.

"Easy, dude, you know I'm not going to get between the two of you." Tucker assured him, looking at him strangely. "Don't get so upset. I was just making an observation. You _know _I like Valerie."

"Oh yeah, that's right, don't you?" Danny's mood quickly lightened. "How's that going, by the way?" He asked him.

"Not." Tucker rolled his eyes. "You know, she's A-List and I'm... I hang out with you guys, no offense intended." He frowned.

"None taken." Danny said, grinning. "I'm sure there's a girl out there for you somewhere, Tuck, don't worry about it too much."

"Yeah, I know." Tucker smiled a little, grateful for his friend's support. He could be a little jealous about how close he and Sam had gotten recently, but at the end of the day, he was mostly just happy for them. He had been watching their budding romance all this time, and had been wondering when one of them would make the first move. "Thanks, dude."

"Hey guys!" Sam called out, now inside of the portal, appearing to be studying something. "I think I found something!" She called out.

"Yeah?" Danny asked, patting Tucker on the back, who continued to try and make heads and tails of the lab's wiring. He headed over towards where Sam was, standing a bit away from the portal. "What is it, Sam?"

"You're not going to believe this Danny, but your dad put the on button _inside of the portal."_ Sam told him with a laugh, grinning at him. "I mean, wow, no wonder it didn't work."

"That sure sounds like my dad." Danny chuckled. "And it sounds just like him to forget it, as well."

"Well then, now that we know what the problem is, why don't we get this thing started and give them a surprise when they come back from their walk?" She asked him, shooting him a quick grin.

"You hear that Tuck?" Danny called over to his friend, who was studying something over by the wall. "We're going to start up the portal, so hang tight!"

"No Danny, Sam, wait, it's still plugged-"

Tucker's cry of warning, however was cut off by the sounds of the portal starting up. Suddenly realizing what her friend was trying to shout at her, Sam's violet eyes went wide, and she turned to make a run for it. But she wasn't fast enough, it seemed, because in a brilliant flash of green light, the portal flared to life. Everything was green, and then, just as suddenly everything was _pain._ A scream ripped itself from her lips as she suddenly found electricity coursing through her body, the sound of her own voice drowning out the cries of her worried friends from outside of the portal.

And then, suddenly, all at once, she felt the pain stop. Her head fuzzy, she cracked open her eyes to the worried face of her boyfriend staring down at her, shouting her name. She couldn't hear him though, and couldn't focus on him, and quickly found her thoughts fading away, as she drifted off into unconsciousness.

* * *

"Sam! _Sam!" _Danny called out, trying to get her to wake up, trying to prevent Sam from falling asleep. She had blinked awake once- wait, had her eyes been _green?_ But after that, she had lost consciousness again. "Tucker, quick, come _help_ me!" He called over to his friend, who had frozen for a moment, as if his brain had shut down from the events that had happened in a blink of an eye. Everything had been fine, then Sam had activated the portal while it was still plugged in- and then there was the _scream._

Sam, caught within the portal, something causing her pain. Tucker could only guess it was electricity, judging from the stray sparks that the portal was shooting off. And then, as if he couldn't take another millisecond of it, Danny reached into the portal after her, grabbing her and pulling her back out of it. The electric current that had been running through the portal didn't seem to cause his friend much pain, although judging from the fact that his arm was smoking and charred in ways it shouldn't be, that it was still very much active at the moment.

And then there was the fact that Sam, his best friend since childhood, classmate since forever, was currently lying in Danny's arms. Although she looked unharmed by the electrocution she had gone through, there was the not so small matter of the fact that she was _glowing._ Not only that, but her hair had turned snow white as well, and where there used to be a normal ponytail, appeared to be a ponytail made of flickering, white flames of about the same size.

"A-ambulance!" Tucker finally remembered, regaining motion in his body. "F-for you and S-Sam!" He stammered, his brain still threatening to slip into overdrive, as he yanked off his own hazmat, fumbling for his cell phone.

"My arm will be _fine._" Danny cut him off, his expression momentarily unreadable as he cradled Sam in his arms. When he glanced back over at Tucker however, there was clear pain in his eyes, as he cradled Sam's body closer to him. "And it's... too late for an ambulance for Sam."

"No." Tucker said slowly, unable to process what he was hearing. "No, Danny, you can't mean, come on man, it's Sam and she can't, she just _can't!_" Stumbling over towards them, he fell to his knees next to Danny, reaching out to take one of Sam's arms, trying futilely to find her pulse, and taking note of just how cold she was. His worries about Danny's charred arm were pushed aside by this much more pressing dilemma, so much so that he didn't even notice the fact that his friend's arm was slowly healing itself, out of his direct view. "No Sam, come on, you can't do this! Put her down Danny, let my try some CPR! _Quick!"_

As Danny put her down carefully on the ground, and Tucker scrambled over to his side to begin CPR, grateful that he had learned it to impress girls, she stirred a little. The two boys exchanged a look, both reaching for an arm, and still finding no pulse. But still, she stirred again, clearly still alive in spite of all signs indicating the fact that she should be dead.

It didn't take the two boys long to put two and two together- that it wasn't a matter of Sam being alive or not. No, just as her lack of pulse suggested, she was most likely dead. What she was, however, was something that Danny's family knew very well.

Sam had become a ghost.


	2. Ghostly Complications

Author's Note: Chapter Two is here at last! That took a bit longer to write than I expected, oh well. As always, Danny Phantom is not mine, and thanks for taking time out of your day to review! For those of you who guest reviewed last chapter, I thank you, since I can't do it directly!

* * *

Wolf Boy x Ghost Girl

Chapter Two: Ghostly Complications

The first thing Tucker and Danny had done once they had gotten grips on their senses, was relocate to Danny's room, where he had securely locked the door behind him. If his parents came to ask him later how they got the portal working, he would make up some kind of story to throw them off and not let them in his room. For now, they didn't need to see Sam, not until they figured things out for themselves. Danny didn't exactly want to know what would happen if his parents flipped out over the fact that Sam had turned into a ghost- if that was what this was, and cringed at the thought of being forced to choose between his pack and his mate- er, family and girlfriend, rather.

Sam was now resting on Danny's bed, still out cold, but giving small signs of 'life', if you could call it that, here and there. Thankfully, the flaming ponytail didn't actually seem to be setting anything on fire, Danny had been worried about that. Pulling up two chairs, he set them down by the bed, and Tucker gratefully took it, collapsing in it, the strength going out of his knees. How had he even managed to walk up here, shell shocked as he was? It was a good thing that Danny was the one to carry Sam, because Tucker was sure he would have dropped her.

Speaking of Danny though, Tucker's eyes went wide as he recalled the boy's earlier charred arm, quickly looking over at him. Casting a glance down towards it, Tucker was startled to notice that Danny's right arm, the one that had been charred and smoking from electrocution just minutes earlier, had already almost healed completely. There were just bits and pieces of burn scars left over, and even those were closing up as Tucker watched him. Opening his mouth and shutting it again, Tucker finally found his voice once more.

"Dude, what the hell is going on with your arm?" Tucker asked. "Last I saw it, it looked like it had been charred to a crisp."

"Huh?" Danny blinked, then glanced down at it in confusion. With a quick grimace, he suddenly realized what the problem was, and he laughed a little, putting it back down again. "Uh, Tuck, do you mind not telling anyone about this? It would do me a huge favor. I've sort of got... um, super healing powers?" Danny told him. "It's recent. Puberty thing? Please don't mention it to anyone, I don't want to end up being someone's lab rat." He quickly lied.

That sounded convincing enough, right? He briefly thought about telling Tucker the whole truth- but then again, maybe this wasn't the _best _time to tell your best friend that you were a werewolf. He could elaborate on it later, some kind of result of over exposure to radiation from his parent's lab or something. That sounded plausible, right?

"What?" Tucker stared at his friend, for once, stunned into silence. He quickly regained his voice, however, shaking his head. "Dude, how come you never told us something like that? There's no way Sam and I would have told anyone! And that's kind of really _awesome_ by the way?"

"Look, can we just not talk about this right now?" Danny asked Tucker, casting his gaze towards Sam. "There's sort of more important things to worry about right in front of us."

"Oh, yeah, that's true." Tucker admitted, sounding rather sheepish. He had a point. Catching the worried look on Danny's face, he reached a hand over, and gave him a squeeze on the shoulder. "It'll be okay, dude. I mean, she's still moving, right? That's good right?"

"Tucker, my parents are ghost hunters." Danny told him plainly. "And Sam sort of looks a whole lot like a ghost right now."

Tucker winced a little. "Isn't it too early to say that Sam's a ghost though?" He asked Danny, even though he was pretty certain of it himself. "I mean, this all could just be some weird radiation side effect or something."

"She doesn't have a pulse, and she's _glowing, _Tuck. Not to mention the _flaming ponytail_." Danny told him, rolling his eyes. He didn't mention the fact that she now smelled strongly of ectoplasm, although there was something else there to her scent, a trace of her previous scent. "I think those are some pretty good hints that she's a ghost."

"Good point." Tucker admitted, frowning deeply. "What are we going to tell her when she wakes up Danny? I mean, she's going to be the same Sam... right?" He asked him, sounding rather uncertain of the fact.

"I don't know. My parents talk about ghosts like they're all evil, but," Danny chuckled knowingly, shaking his head. "Sometimes the stories that we all hear aren't always as true as we seem to think they are. At any rate, what we should do is wait for her to wake up, and then break the news to her carefully."

"Yeah, that's probably the thing to do." Tucker cringed, not looking forward to it. "She will, though? I mean, she'll wake up?"

"I guess so?" Danny frowned, eyebrows furrowing. "Honestly Tucker, I don't really know what's going on either, I'm just trying to make good guesses. I'm just as freaked out about this as you are. The best thing we can do for Sam right now is to be supportive though, I think."

"Mm." A groan escaped from Sam's lips, and she shifted again, this time, apparently waking up. Her eyes blinked open, now a shade of green-gold, a strange glow to them. "...Danny? Tucker?" She said after a moment, clearly disorientated, a strange echo to her voice. "What happened? And why do I feel like someone dropped a sack of bricks on my head?" She asked them, clutching her head. She paused, taking note of her surroundings. "And when did we get to Danny's room?"

Both boys let out a small sigh of relief as they saw that this was still the usual Sam, and Danny's expression brightened. "It's okay Sam." He assured her. "You got into a little accident."

"I think that might qualify as the understatement of the century, Danny. Maybe we shouldn't be beating around the bush about this? I think we owe Sam a direct explanation- or as much of one as we have, at least." Tucker asked, glancing over at his friend.

"Beating around the bush about what?" Sam asked, pulling herself up into a sitting position. "What accident? Did something happen to me?" She asked, glancing over her hands, as if they would hold all the answers. Why were the boys acting this way, like something was wrong? "Wait. I'm glowing- why am I _glowing?"_

"Well, don't freak out now Sam." Danny told her, trying to sound reassuring. Hadn't he been in this exact same position two years ago? Except he was the one being told to not freak out and Jazz had been the one telling him it. "But um, we short of think you might be..." He stammered, rubbing the back of his neck. "Um, you might be a ghost."

Sam stared at the boys incredulously for a long moment, mouth hanging open. "I'm a... _what?_" She stammered, unable to comprehend what they had just told her. "No I mean, I can't be a ghost! Because to be a ghost you have to you know... _die." _She paled then, a rather astonishing feat given how pale she was already. "Oh God. I'm _dead. _I died. Oh my God." She said, holding her head. "Oh this is not good, I can't be dead, this is just a dream, I just hit my head or something..."

"Sam, calm down!" Danny called out, alarm ringing in his voice. It puzzled Sam, she couldn't figure out why he sounded so alarmed- and then she realized that she was falling through the bed, and consequently, through the _floor_. Letting out a yelp, she reached out a hand, which Danny tried to catch, but his own simply slipped right through it. Closing her eyes, she braced for impact, and grunted when she land rather unceremoniously on her ass. Looking around her, she realized that she was back in the Fenton's basement lab.

"Ow." Sam groaned, rubbing her rear end, as she made herself get to her feet. She felt strangely light, she thought, but if what the boys had just told her was true, there was probably good reason for that. Her eyes fell on the Fenton Ghost Portal, now very much active, a swirling green mess of ectoplasm. At least she had gotten the damn thing to work, if nothing else.

"Sam, you okay?" Danny was down the basement stairs then, and scooped her up in his arms. She let out a yelp, peering into his concerned eyes, and watched as he seemed to relax when she didn't slip through his hands this time. "Oh good." He heaved a sigh. "What did you just do?"

"I don't know either. I just... passed right through the bed, and ended up here." Sam told him. "At least I stopped falling." She said with a shudder, wondering what would happen to her if she hadn't.

"According to the Internet, that would be intangibility." Tucker said, wheezing a little as he joined them down in the lab. "Also, you thinking of trying out for the track team, Danny? Because I blinked, and you were already down here."

"You're exaggerating." Danny rolled his eyes. In truth, he had been so worried about Sam, he'd completely forgotten to keep his speed in check. He might have really gotten down here that quickly for all he knew. It was a miracle that he remembered to actually open the door instead of just kicking it down because it was in his way. "But are you sure you're okay, Sam?"

"How can I be okay?" She asked Danny, raising her eyebrows. "According to you two, I'm a ghost, which means I'm _dead. _That, and I'm the home of two ghost hunters, who, I know they're your parents Danny, but given how gung ho they are about the whole ghost hunting thing without ever having _seen _a single ghost, I think I have reason to be a _little _concerned."

"Sorry, standard question." Danny apologized, looking a little sheepish. "Look, Sam." He said, putting her down, making sure she could stand on her own two feet before he let her go. "We'll work through this. I'm here for you." He told her.

"I'm here for you too!" Tucker chimed in.

Sam gave them a small smile. "Thanks you two. I mean it." She blinked a little then, as she felt her body suddenly growing lighter, and she found herself hanging above Tucker and Danny. "_And _now I'm floating. Help?"

"I got you." Danny said, grabbing her leg, and pulling her down, placing his hands on her shoulders to keep her rooted to the ground. "I guess being a ghost doesn't come with automatic knowledge of understanding how being a ghost works." He said with a frown, sympathizing with Sam. Though he had someone who mentored him, more or less, in the ways of the werewolf, it was something else to actually experience all of the changes himself. He more or less could understand what it was Sam was going through.

It wasn't exactly pleasant to wake up after a traumatic event and find your entire life, and everything about you, drastically changed. Dealing with the aftermath could be even harder.

Then again, at least he was still _alive_.

Danny's ears twitched a little, and he turned his head, hearing something that the others couldn't. Apparently, being a ghost increased Sam's hearing, because she caught the sound before Tucker did, who was just wondering what the two of them were looking at. The werewolf swore underneath his breath, his parents and Jazz had already come back home from their walk, and were unlocking the front door.

"Right. Maybe you should hide for now Sam. I'll try to explain to them what happened, but it might be best if they don't see you first." Danny told her, gaze shifting back towards her.

Sam slowly nodded her head, agreeing that this might be the best course of action. What was she going to do if Danny's parents turned on her? Would they chase her out, not allow her anywhere near Danny again? For that matter, what were her own parents going to say, now that their only daughter was dead, a ghost? As these thoughts passed through her head, Sam experienced a strange sensation, like warmth running through her. She took one look at the matching stunned expressions of Tucker and Danny, and knew that something else had happened.

"Okay." Sam chanced. "What now?" She asked.

Danny froze, half not believing what he was seeing. There had been a flash of violet rings around Sam's waist, and he suddenly found himself staring at the same girl he had known almost all of his life, instead of the white haired version of her. Taking her wrist, he felt for a pulse, discovering that she had one, and that her chest was also properly rising and falling in accordance with her breathing. Not only that, but her scent was back to normal as well- or almost normal, Danny thought, taking a second whiff of it. There were traces of ectoplasm still lingering in her scent, as if it was mixed into to.

"I..." Danny stammered, glancing over uncertainly at Tucker, wordlessly asking him if he was seeing the same thing he was. His friend's dumbfounded nod gave him all the answers he needed, and he turned back to Sam. "I think you're human again." He told her, blinking slowly. Judging from her scent, Danny thought the explanation might not have been that simple, but this was a good thing, right? It meant that Sam wasn't dead, she wasn't a ghost, and he wasn't going to have to worry about his bloody pack mentality competing with his love for Sam.

"Really?" Sam asked, looking over herself. That glow was gone, and so was the hazmat suit she had put on earlier, leaving her back in her regular clothing. She felt for her own pulse, and was delighted to find that it was there, her violet eyes lighting up. "I am!" She rejoiced, unable to keep the excitement out of her voice. "But," she paused, a look of confusion. "What _was _that? Some weird temporary side effect?"

"I honestly don't know." Danny admitted. "Do you want to ask my parents about it?" He asked her, just as his father loudly announced that they were back. Without thinking, Tucker shouted that they were still in the basement.

"I-" Sam hesitated, then shook her head. "No, that might not be a good idea. They may just think we're crazy, for all we know." She said after a moment.

"Oh, you'd be surprised at the stuff my folks would believe." Danny quirked a grin, tightly embracing Sam, glad to hear her heartbeat pounding in his sensitive ears again. "But I won't say anything unless you want me too. I'm sure we can figure this out on our own, if need be." He told her, just as his parents came downstairs.

"The portal!" Jack declared, eyes falling on it first. "It's working!" He said, running towards the glowing portal. "Oh Maddie, it's just like I dreamed it would be!" He said, briefly sounding more like an over excited teenage girl than a grown man.

"Oh Jack, it's lovely!" Maddie breathed in, looking equal parts astonished and pleased. "But how?"

"Oh, uh," Tucker chimed in, glancing over at Danny and Sam. "We're not sure, exactly! We were heading upstairs to go clean up the dishes, which uh, we never got around to doing, sorry about that, and all of a sudden we just heard a loud noise from inside the lab. When we came down to see what was going on, the portal had already turned itself on." He lied, covering for his childhood friend. She shot him a grateful look, and Tucker gave her a quick grin back.

"Perhaps it was some sort of time delay." Maddie mused, eyebrows furrowing together in thought. She walked over towards the table where the computer that was monitoring the portal's output was. "We should still look over our notes a bit more thoroughly, but for the moment, it appears to be stable. All the readings it's giving off are as they should be."

"See Jazz?" Jack looked back triumphantly at his daughter, beaming. "I told you it would work! And here you were, doubting me! Me, the great Jack Fenton!"

Jazz merely rolled her eyes. "Okay, so it's glowing green and spinning around. That doesn't mean anything, dad." She reasoned. "There's no ghosts coming from it after all." She pointed out, glancing over at her little brother. "Right, Danny? You haven't seen any ghosts, have you?"

"What?" Danny said quickly, sweating suddenly. "What, ghosts? No- no, of course not, there are no ghosts!" As if quickly realizing what he had just said, he nervously glanced back at his parents, their faces a bit crestfallen that even their own son didn't seem to believe them now, and he winced. "What I mean is that there have been no ghosts that have come out of the portal _yet. _Because there still could be, I mean who knows, it's not like they know when there's a ghost portal or whatever opening up to lead them into the human world!"

"Right, of course!" Sam chimed in. Perhaps she shouldn't be encouraging them, what with her own ghostly experience earlier, but she hated to see Danny's parents upset. They were like a second pair of parents to her, and she had to sheepishly admit that Mrs. Fenton was often better to vent out her frustrations to than her own mother was. She was a little more accepting of the goth girl's nonconformity. "I'm sure some will come out if you just give it time!" She assured them.

"Danny and Sam are right!" Jack nodded his head. "Just you wait, Jazz, and I'll show you." He told her. "I'll show everyone!"

"Sounding a bit like a mad scientist there, dad." Danny chimed in, quirking an eyebrow.

"Oops." Jack flushed a little, letting out a loud chuckle. "Hey, maybe I should dress up as a mad scientist this Halloween. The kids would love it!"

"Well, with the portal active now, your father and I have some work to do, it looks like." Maddie told them, smiling at the assorted teens. "Could you four be dears, and go clean up the mess from dinner?" She asked them. "We would really appreciate it." She paused, looking at Tucker, frowning a little, now realizing what one of them was wearing. "And Tucker, when did you put on your hazmat suit? I didn't think we had told you we made one for you yet. Smart thinking though."

"Oh the hazmat?" Tucker asked, pulling on the collar. "Yeah, Danny told me, and I wanted to try it on!" He told them, starting to pull it off, handing it back to her, which she accepted with a smile. "It fits nice and snug, Mrs. Fenton, thanks for making one for me! Now, how about we get on those dishes, huh guys? Jazz, why don't you and me do them, so our cute couple over there can have some alone time." He said, pointing over towards Danny and Sam, who despite knowing what he was suggesting that for, flushed.

"It better be PG-13 rated alone time!" Jack called out, which only caused the pair to turn a brighter shade of red.

"Of course it will, Mr. Fenton." Tucker laughed, nudging Danny as he sheepishly walked past them. "Right Danny?"

"_Of course." _Danny grumbled, staring at his feet, anything but the face of his best friend, which he knew was bound to have an annoying expression on his face. "Come on Sam, let's go head to my room." He told her, taking her hand. The pair scurried off upstairs, before anyone else could make any choice comments about their relationship, and he shut the door behind him, letting out a deep sigh.

"We _could _be having some PG-13 rated alone time." Sam sheepishly suggested, her face a bright crimson.

"As nice as that offer sounds," Danny began, glancing up at her. "And believe me, on any other day, I'd jump at that suggestion. But I think getting to the bottom of what just happened with you is a _little _more important."

"I feel fine now though." Sam told him, shrugging her shoulders. "Maybe it was just some weird near death experience thing, caused by an overdose of ecto radiation." She suggested. Truth be told, she didn't think that herself, but maybe if she kept telling herself these things, they would turn out to be true?

"Sam, come on, you don't really believe that, do you?" Danny said, staring at her point blank, crossing his arms. He knew that wasn't the case, just from her scent alone- and now that he was listening for it, and she was the only other person in the room, he could also tell that her heartbeat wasn't quite what it had been before the accident. It was weaker, almost, but she seemed pretty fine, aside form that. Then, there was her scent, which still had the scent of ectoplasm woven into it. Neither of these things he could actually _tell _her, of course.

Sometimes it was annoying to have to come up with explanations for knowing things that your senses told you, that you really shouldn't know if you were human. As if keeping himself in check during gym class wasn't enough already, and he couldn't help but think that it reeked of lying to Sam, even if what he was doing was only avoiding the truth.

Thankfully, he didn't need to explain, as Sam heaved a sigh, sitting down on his bed. "I know, Danny, I know. I just... a ghost?" She asked, looking up at him. "Ghost means dead. I'm not dead right now, at least, not according to my pulse I'm not." She paused then, and smiled up at him. "I don't really remember much about the actual accident." She admitted. "But I do think I remember you pulling me out of there and calling my name. Thanks, Danny."

"Hey, any time." Danny shrugged his shoulders. "I'd do the same for Tucker, and I'm sure the two of you would do the same for me as well."

"We would. Well, I would." Sam told him, giving him a small smile. She blinked then, when a confused and alarmed look spread over Danny's face. "What? What is it? What's wrong?" She asked, feeling her heart beat faster in her chest- well, at least that was still working, so it meant that she wasn't a ghost again.

"I can't see you." Danny said, rubbing his eyes. Sam had been on the bed one minute, and the next, she was gone. Gone from sight, at least, he could still hear her voice, and smell her scent, so she was still exactly where she had been.

"What on Earth do you mean- _oh." _Sam said, glancing down at herself, finding her body now invisible. "Well that's not normal." She said, heaving a sigh of relief when she suddenly could see herself again.

"Invisibility, I think." Danny said, walking over towards Sam, studying her carefully. He kneeled down, placing his hands on her shoulders. She felt a bit cold to his touch, though not as cold as she had been when she was a ghost. "Stay here, I'm going to go get a thermometer. You feel colder than you should be, so I want to take your temperature." He told her after a moment.

"Alright. Provided I don't fall through any beds again." Sam laughed, trying to make light of her problem.

Danny hurried off to his parents room, and came back with the promised device. Upon entering his room, he groaned, finding that it appeared to be empty again. Taking a quick sniff of the air, he could still smell Sam, so she had turned invisible again. "Sam, you're invisible again." He told her, without fully realizing he had no way of knowing that for sure, at least, not if he was a normal human.

"Shoot, am I?" Sam asked, grumbling as she realized this was true. For now, she seemed more concerned about her own problems to pick up on that oddity of Danny's. "Maybe I can go back to normal if I concentrate and- _yikes_!" She hissed.

For a second, Danny thought that she had fallen through the floor again, but when her scent changed, and he ceased to hear her heartbeat, he had a feeling that he knew what had happened. When the violet rings flashed, and brought Sam back into view once more, she once again, had the white hair, flaming ponytail, and green-gold eyes, with the strange glow about her. Her hazmat suit was back again, as well, and it only took Sam a second to see what had happened to her.

"Oh don't tell me I'm a ghost again." She groaned, placing her palm on her face, and shaking her head. "I was really hoping that part was some kind of dream." She admitted.

"Yeah, you're a ghost again." Danny told her directly, setting down the now useless thermometer. "You might also want to take a good look in a mirror." He said, jerking a hand towards his dresser mirror.

Sam stood up, taking each step carefully, concentrating on staying on the ground. She felt so light, that she found it hard not to just float around. But if she started floating, Sam didn't know if she could stop. Once she got to the mirror, she sucked in an imaginary breath- she wasn't breathing now, of course. "Well," she said after a moment, turning her head back and forth. "That's a bit of a change."

"You can tell we're meant to be together because we are both equally good at making understatements." Danny joked, unable to keep a grin off his face. Sam couldn't help but grin back at him. "Okay, so. You're a ghost now, but you were human earlier, that's for sure." He said, tapping a foot against the floor, trying to gather his thoughts. "Dead, alive, and then dead again. Now that doesn't make sense. Not real sure what's going on here, Sam, I've gotta say."

There was a knock on the door then. "Danny? Sam? It's Tucker. Jazz let me off dishwashing duty early. Can I come in?" He asked.

"Yeah, come in, but make it quick." Danny told him.

Tucker came in, quickly closing the door behind him. When he looked up, his eyes quickly fell on the ghostly form of Sam and he nodded his head. "Ah. I see the ghost girl is back." He said shortly. "I guess that was real after all."

"Seems so." Sam said, shrugging her shoulders. "You have any clues as to what is going on, Tucker?" She asked him, before she found her body lifting up into the air. "And floating again." She said. Thankfully, this time, she stopped mid-way, hovering in the air just a little bit above Danny, who pulled her down to the ground again. "Thank you, Danny. Maybe we should buy me an anchor?" She joked.

"Well, I do sort of have a theory." Tucker said. "But first, Sam, why don't you concentrate on turning human again?" He suggested.

"Worth a shot, I suppose." Sam frowned, closing her eyes and concentrated. There was another flash of violet rings, and she was back to normal again. "Huh. Well what do you know."

"Okay now, can you turn into a ghost again?" Tucker asked her. "And then back into a human again."

"I can try." She said, focusing once more. Another flash of violet rings, and her ghost form was back. She took a moment to look herself over, frowning a bit. "Okay then, now to try human again." She said, concentrating on her human form once again. To her delight, the violet rings formed again, leaving her human once more.

"Right good." Tucker clapped his hands, then briefly glanced over at Danny, quirking an eyebrow. "You okay, dude?" He asked him, noticing that his friend looked a bit zoned out at the moment.

"Oh yeah, sorry." Danny said, blinking. The multiple sudden shifts in Sam's scent had overloaded him a bit, and he shook his head, shaking himself out of it. "Sorry. You were going to say something, Tuck?"

"Yeah. Now, here me out- I don't know that much about ghosts, so my theory might be total bullshit." Tucker told them. "So take it with a grain of salt."

"We're all ears, Tuck." Sam told him.

"I think Sam is half ghost." Tucker said plainly. "She was caught up in the portal when it was turning on, and was thus exposed to both ectoplasm and a large amount of electricity at the same time." He said. "The shock _should _have killed her, but instead, the ectoplasm form the portal fused to her DNA, we'll say, and put her in kind of a state of limbo." He told them. "At least, that's my theory. Again, like I said, I don't know a whole lot about ghosts or portals, or ghost portals. Don't even know that much about electrocution, so I could just be pulling this all out of my ass."

"No, no, that sounds like a workable theory, Tucker." Sam frowned, pacing across the floor. "So I'm half ghost?" She asked. "And I can shift between a human and a ghost form, it seems like."

"You can use ghost powers in human form, too." Danny offered. "At least, you can turn invisible in human form."

"Sam can turn invisible?" Tucker asked.

"Yeah, you missed it." Sam looked up at him. "Maybe I can do it again." She frowned, placing her left arm out in front of her. Concentrating, she focused her attention on her left arm, willing it to turn invisible.

Instead, she turned everything _but _her left arm invisible.

"Well, _that's_ disturbing." Tucker said after a moment, glad when the rest of Sam came back into view. "Don't do that again."

"Wasn't trying to." Sam laughed, sounding a bit sheepish. "This is going to take some getting use to." She admitted after a moment, frowning deeply. "Do you think it's permanent?"

"Well, if you're not back to normal by tomorrow, probably." Danny told her, putting a hand on her shoulder and giving it a squeeze. "Look, Sam, I know this is probably going to be a bit hard for you to get used to if that turns out to be the case- but Tucker and I are here for you every step of the way. We'll have your back." He promised her. "Right, Tuck?"

"Right-o, Danny!" Tucker grinned, giving them a mock salute. "Tucker Foley is always there to have his friend's back!"

"Thanks you two." Sam said, smiling at them. She yawned then, suddenly overcome by a wave of exhaustion. Today's events had taken more out of her than she had expected. "Oh man, I'm pooped." She said.

"Not surprised, it's been a long evening." Danny observed. "Maybe you should try heading home. I'd offer to let you stay overnight, but it might be best if you don't hang around in the home of two ghost hunters during the middle of the night." He frowned. "And I'd keep you awake anyways. Weird nocturnal sickness and all." He laughed.

"Hey, does your nocturnal sickness have anything to do with your super healing?" Tucker asked out of the blue, suddenly recalling Danny's half-forgotten 'confession' from earlier.

"Super healing?" Sam asked, looking puzzled, her eyebrows knitting together as Danny winced. Leave it to Tucker to open his mouth, he thought, as Sam turned that confused look on him. "Danny doesn't have super healing. What are you talking about Tucker?"

"Of course he has super-_oh._" Tucker flushed, realizing. He quirked an eyebrow at Danny. "Seriously dude, you didn't even tell your own girlfriend about it?"

"Tell me about what?" Sam asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest, looking a little upset. She couldn't stay mad for very long, because she soon found herself slipping through the floor again. Thankfully, only her legs had turned intangible this time, so Danny was able to catch her and drag her back up again. Her legs quickly turned back to normal, and she gave them a testing shift as she got back to the ground, frowning. "Okay that doesn't change my question though, Danny." She said, peering up at him.

"I-" Danny hesitated, then heaved a sigh, rubbing the back of his neck. He was in a corner now, wasn't he? Well, as much as he hated to do it, he could half-lie his way out of it. "I, yeah, I can sort of heal... really quickly." He admitted, gaze shifting down to his feet. "Jazz, uh, Jazz told me not to tell anybody because rumors might spread, and nasty business, and we think it's due to overexposure to radiation or something. Came on recently. Sorry."

"Well you could have told us at least." Sam frowned, looking cross again- but managing to stay rooted to the floor this time. "We wouldn't have told anyone about it, Danny." She frowned. "Like I'm sure neither of you will tell anyone about the fact that I'm half-ghost or whatever it is that I am all of a sudden."

"Look, I'm sorry. It just sort of freaked me out a little, that's all. I was going to tell the both of you about it soon." Danny apologized, the knot of guilt in his stomach tightening as he continued to lie to his friends. Maybe now would be a good time to just come out with it, he thought? No, watching as Sam turned invisible, he thought now might not be the right time. Sam was going to use all the support she could get if this thing was permanent- and he had a strong hunch that it was, something temporary wouldn't cause such a notable change in scent.

Again, not that he could tell her that.

Sam heaved a sigh. "Alright, that's fine, Danny. I can kind of understand now." She gave him a half smile. "But, I mean, really?" She asked him. "That's kind of neat." She admitted.

"Ghost powers sound neater." Danny told her, daring to glance up. "You could be a superhero, if you wanted to!"

"If they stick, and if I can get them under control." Sam laughed. "Which sounds easier said than done. Tucker, maybe I should sleep over at your place tonight." She said, glancing over at him. "That wouldn't be a problem, right? I might like to have someone by my side so I don't go sinking into the Earth's core or go floating off into the stratosphere."

"Oh yeah, sure." Tucker grinned, then caught Danny's glower, and paled a little. _Geez, when he's jealous, Danny gets kind of scary._ He thought to himself, metaphorically pissing his pants. "I mean, if that's alright with Danny. Wouldn't want to encroach onto boyfriend territory and all that."

"I'm sure Danny would be fine with that, Tucker." Sam said. "Right, Danny?" She asked, glancing over at him.

"Oh, yeah. Sure." Danny blinked, laughing a little, a bit flushed when he realized what he had just been doing himself. Tucker wasn't going to take Sam from him, the human part of him realized that. Tucker and Sam were just friends, and as far as Danny knew, Tucker had never been interested in Sam that way. And right now, he was much more interested in Valerie at the moment. Logic told him that, but logic didn't always come into play much when it came down to his newfound animal instincts.

"Right, well," Sam yawned again. "It's been really nice having dinner with you and your folks, Danny, portal accidents aside." She told him, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Hopefully, I'll see you tomorrow, in one piece. We can talk more about this half ghost business before class." She told him. "Tucker, think you can keep an eye on me and make sure I don't do weird ghost things while we're walking over to your place?" She asked him.

"That I can." He said, grinning at her, glad that Danny wasn't glowering at him anymore. "We'll see you later Danny. I'd wish you good night, but given your sleeping habits..."

"Right, I got you. Good night to the both of you though." Danny waved. Now that night had fallen, he was in fact, far perkier. He could all but feel the moon outside, not full tonight, a half moon. "Call me if anything big happens." He told them.

"Will do." Sam promised, pausing to flick him on the forehead before she left. "That was for lying to me, though."

Danny laughed a little, looking sheepish as he watched Sam leave with Tucker. Once he heard them go, he heaved a sigh, switching back into his halfway form, tail drooping a little. He had promised not to tell anyone about Sam, that was true, but he kind of needed to discuss this with Jazz, as well as his future options. He kind of got the feeling that telling Sam he was a werewolf would have to be put on the back burner for awhile, and Jazz wouldn't tell anyone, right? Patient doctor confidentiality and all that.

"Sam would kill me if she knew. Ugh, I feel like a hypocrite. I _am _a hypocrite." Danny mumbled, shaking his head. Leaving his room, he paused by the door to the basement, confirming that his parents were still busy downstairs. He found Jazz in the kitchen, just finishing up the dishes. She looked up when he came in, smiling a little.

"Friends gone home, I take it?" She asked him, glancing at the ears and tail.

"Yeah. Look, can we talk in private, Jazz? It's sort of important." He told her, frowning deeply. "And you need to promise whatever I tell you, stays between us, okay?"

"Of course." Jazz blinked. "I would never tell anyone your secrets, Danny."

"Thanks." Danny smiled, seeming reassured by that. "Can we talk in your room?" He asked her, to which his older sister nodded. "Great."

Danny silently followed Jazz up to her room, tail swishing behind him as they walked up the stairs. Once they got there, he took a chair, shifting his tail so that he didn't sit on the darn thing. "Look Jazz, something happened to Sam this afternoon."

"You didn't infect her, did you?" Jazz asked quickly.

"What?" Danny gave her a look. "No, of course not. Sam is terrified of wolves, I'm not going to turn her into one. Besides, aside from biting there's only one other way to infect someone with lycanthropy and we are both way too young to be worrying about that sort of thing." He said, his face bright red as he brought up the topic. "No, something else, something involving the ghost portal."

"Alright, I'm listening, Danny." Jazz said, leaning back in her own chair. "Go on."

"First of all, I really hate to break it to you, but dad was right. Ghosts _are_ real." Danny told her. "I know this for a fact because while you guys were gone, Sam turned the portal on from inside o fit while it was still plugged in." He told her, and watched as his sister paled. "No, no, I mean she's okay. I mean, sort of." He frowned. "Jazz, we think that somehow, one way or another, as crazy as it sounds, Sam is half-ghost now."

Jazz simply stared at her brother for a long time, an awkward silence filling up the room. "And you're sure about this?" She said after a long moment.

"She smells of ectoplasm in a way that mom and dad don't, like it's linked to her scent somehow." Danny told her. "That and she turned into a ghost several times, fell through the floor twice, and turned invisible several times, not to mention the floating."

"Shouldn't you maybe be telling this to mom and dad, instead of me?" Jazz asked. If it was anyone but her brother telling her this, Jazz might have laughed the whole thing off as a joke. But she could tell that Danny was dead serious. "It sounds like cause for concern. Aren't ghosts supposed to be dead?" She paused. "Danny, Sam's- Sam's not _dead_, right?"

"What?" Danny blinked. "Oh no, she's not. I mean, she's dead as a ghost, but she's alive as a human. I can't quite explain it." He told her, shaking his head. "And we can't tell mom and dad. They're ghost _hunters _remember?" He arched an eyebrow. "And do you _really _think it's such a good idea to put a werewolf into a position where they need to choose between their pack and their mate?"

"Using werewolf terminology again, little brother." Jazz pointed out. Danny flushed, and she shook her head. "You need to remember to watch that, people will look at you strangely if you call us your 'pack' and Sam your 'mate' in public." She pointed out, but then forced herself to get back at the topic at hand. "Okay, right, so I won't tell mom and dad. But should you really be telling me this, Danny?" She asked.

"Well, no, not really." Danny admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "Do you want me to go over everything from the beginning?" He asked her.

"That would be nice." Jazz said.

Danny nodded, his head, taking in and letting out a deep breath before he explained to her the exact sequence of events. Jazz remained silent during the explanation, but at some point, she winced, and at others she heaved a sigh. At the end, all she could do was shake her head, meeting her brother's eyes.

"Danny, that was sort of the perfect chance to tell them the truth, you realize that, right?" Jazz asked.

"I know, I know. But it didn't seem right." He told her. "Sam's going to need all the support she can get right now, I know what it's like to suddenly adjust to a huge change in your life. Do you honestly think she would let me anywhere near her if she knew I was a werewolf?" He asked her.

"Danny, come on, Sam loves you." Jazz said. "But, that said, you might have a point." She frowned, putting a hand to her chin, thinking it over. "She might involuntarily push you away because of her phobia. Combined with the upcoming changes you seem to think she'll go through as the result of what's happened to her, it might be too much for her psyche." She peered over at Danny, watching as her brother idly played with his tail, and simply let out a deep sigh. "I can't say that you're wrong, Danny. But if you keep telling her only half truths, she's going to be even madder when she eventually learns the whole truth."

"But," she beamed at her brother. "I think you did good, little brother. You might have saved Sam's life. She might have become all ghost if you have left her inside of that portal longer." She laughed a little as Danny's ears perked right up, and his tail began to wag somewhat. He reminded her more of a dog sometimes than a wolf, she thought. "What are you guys going to do from now on?"

"I can't say for sure." Danny frowned. "I have the feeling that things are going to start changing from now on." He admitted. "Something this big doesn't come without more than a few changes in the lives of everyone it involves." He said, speaking from experience. "More than anything though, I'm just sorry Sam had to go through any of that pain at all. She doesn't remember it... but it was pretty horrifying, Jazz. And I had an arm ripped off by a giant wolf." He told her.

Jazz shivered, recalling this. "Please don't bring that up again, Danny." She said shortly. She had been trying to convince herself that Danny had just gotten a large bite, rather than what had actually happened. Thankfully, the arm had regrown, although, if you looked closely, there was a faint scar line from where it had been taken off. "I had to watch, remember? But, I do thank you for also saving my life there."

"You're my sister. I couldn't let anything happen to you." Danny shrugged his shoulder. "Things turned out okay though, in the end. I mean, you're fine with me like this... right?" He asked, the slight hesitation in his voice was enough to break her heart. It was written on his face as well, though not in her eyes, but then again, Jazz had a pretty hard time reading her brother's eyes when they were more wolf-like.

"Of course." Jazz said firmly. "And mom and dad are too. Everybody loves you, even if you do get a little fuzzy sometimes, Danny." She assured him, then grinned a little. "And that's why we had all the door frames widened." She joked. "You were so miserable that first full moon, because you couldn't get out of the lab!" She laughed a little, suddenly recalling.

"Aw come on." Danny huffed, ears drooping. "You would be too. Wolves are _outdoors _creatures, Jazz. I don't like being cooped up when I'm all wolf." He told her. "I appreciate the support, sis, but I could do without all of the teasing."

"I'm your older sister. Teasing you is part of my job." She told him, grinning. "But, on more serious topics, alright. I won't say anything to Sam about the fact that you told me this, either, I'll keep it just between us. In exchange, I want you to let me know everything that happens from this point on, so someone a bit wiser can pass along advice down the chain. I trust Sam's common sense a little more than I trust yours and Tucker's, but she's still only fourteen."

"You're a teenager too." Danny pointed out.

"But mentally, I'm an adult." Jazz said, placing a hand on her chest, bragging a little. "But really, Danny. Talk things out with me about this, okay? I want to keep an eye on this situation, and I don't want the three of you getting into any trouble. Promise?"

"Promise." Danny told her, giving her a fanged grin back. "Speaking of outdoors, I've got an each, so you know, gonna go prowl and everything." He told her.

"If you're staying human, take the hoodie this time and shove that damn tail down your pants!" Jazz called out after him. "And don't go picking fights with local dogs again, okay? It's really hard to explain to their owners why my little brother is staring them down."

"Can't help it, instincts." Danny told her, a bright grin on his face as he ducked out of her room, shrugging his shoulders. "Not that most of the dogs around here would challenge me anymore, _pssh_." He waved a hand. "But okay, hoodie, tail in pants, I've got you. Tell mom and dad for me, okay? I'll probably be coming home late."

"Alright, Danny, don't get into trouble." Jazz waved, watching him go, shaking her head. "So much for his curfew." She laughed, standing up and went to grab her journal. She paused a little, as she was about to write in it, stopping herself. Instead, she grabbed another journal, a blank one, and scribbled down the words 'ghostly observations' on it.

Time to keep track of _another _supernatural being, Sam thought.

She wondered if any of the other girls in her 'my brother is a supernatural creature' online support group had to deal with supernatural creature escalation, or if it was just Jazz alone that was weird. Maybe she should ask them what they knew about ghosts the next time they held a meeting.

"_Still _can't believe they were right." She muttered underneath her breath, taking pencil to paper. "I'll never hear the end of it if he finds out."

That was of course, the other reason Jazz had decided to keep what she had learned tonight a secret from her father. She knew the man would be unable to avoid gloating at her expense, and the longer she could put it off, the better.

Somehow, Jazz got the feeling that she would be getting to hear it a bit sooner than she would like.


	3. Phantasma

Author's Note: Chapter Three! The order of major villains had been decided- it'll be Freakshow, Aragon, Vlad, and finally, ending with Spectra. Other ghosts will be present for shorter plots, and of course, Skulker will be present all throughout. As always, Danny Phantom does not belong to me! As always, an advanced thanks to those who read and those who review! Y'all are great, rock on.

Also, Tucker's sewing talents are in reference to Desiree's first appearance- apparently, according to his report card, before editing, Tucker has an A in Sewing class.

* * *

Wolf Boy x Ghost Girl

Chapter Three: Phantasma

"Nice faceplant." Tucker observed from his seat on the Fenton's couch. "I'll give you a ten in the klutz Olympics."

"Shut it, Tucker." Danny grumbled, eyes barely open, even after falling down the stairs. What time was it anyways, he wondered, letting out a loud yawn as he scratched his stomach. "Ugh, it's too early to be awake, let me go back to sleep."

"Danny, it's seven thirty. Most people our age are awake by now." Sam pointed out. She was flushed a light shade of red, not entirely having realized that her boyfriend slept in little but his boxers.

Upon hearing her voice, a rush of awareness came back to Danny, first recalling the events of the previous evening, and then recalling that he was almost entirely naked. His eyes snapped open, and his face turned a bright shade of red, glancing down first at his boxers, then back at Sam. He opened his mouth to say something, before he just nervously motioned back up towards the stairs, and took off up them in the blink of an eye.

No wonder Jazz had tried to get him to take a shower and get dressed first. Super senses didn't mean much unless you were awake to use them- at least he had the sense of mind to tuck in the tail and ears beforehand.

Tucker snickered at this, putting it down on a mental list of things to tease Danny relentlessly about. He glanced over at Jazz, who had her face in her hands, slowly shaking her head, face burning out of secondhand embarrassment for her little brother. She _had _warned him, she had really tried!

"_Well_, it looks like that scar on his arm is healing up a little though!" Sam changed the topic quickly, her own face still a bit red, trying to think of anything else other than her boyfriend's bare torso. It was a miracle she hadn't lost control of her powers back there. "It looked pretty mean and nasty for awhile, I'm glad."

"Oh yeah, it's healing really well." Jazz told her, giving the goth girl a quick smile. She studied her curiously out of the corner of her eye, as if looking for any signs of abnormalities- if what Danny had told her last night was true, then she was hiding it very well. _Or _maybe not so well, Jazz thought, as she noticed Sam's right arm briefly turning invisible. She pretended she didn't notice, averting her gaze.

"Yeah, he got lucky. Could have come out from a bear attack _much _worse. It's a good thing your parents chased it off in time." Tucker nodded his head. That was the excuse that the Fentons had decided on for Danny being hospitalized for the first week or so after becoming a werewolf and the month or so afterwards that he spent adjusting- given the area they had been camping in, a bear attack was a little more likely than a wolf attack, and Jazz had wisely decided that they should try and avoid irritating Sam's phobia.

Danny groaned, plodding back down the stairs, still clearly half asleep in spite of the quick cold shower he had taken. He had gotten dressed, wearing a white and red hoodie over a white tank top, and his usual blue jeans, yawning widely. "Right. Are we walking together to school or something?" He asked his two friends, letting out another yawn. "Ugh. Why do mornings have to be so... _in the morning?"_

"Because it wouldn't make much sense otherwise." Sam joked, standing up. "Well, we're going to head on to school, Jazz! Thank Mr. Fenton for us for the Fenton Toast. Tell Mrs. Fenton she needs to work on the Fenton Jam, though." She told her.

"Don't you guys think it's weird at all to be eating my dad's face on a piece of bread?" Danny asked, quirking an eyebrow, pausing at the front door to lace up his boots.

"Compared to the Fenton Wipes, the toast is pretty normal." Tucker observed, getting up to pat his friend on the back. "What you need though, is some coffee. We can stop at the Coffee Shack on our way to school!" He said, giving Danny a wink that indicated they weren't _exactly _planning on going to school today.

"Ugh, no thanks." Danny said, crinkling his nose at the offer. "That stuff's too strong for me." Even if being a werewolf didn't make him carnivorous, the smell of coffee alone was enough to overpower his new sense of smell, so he tried to avoid it. "I'll wake up a little eventually."

"If you say so." Tucker frowned, looking unconvinced. "Not very fun, is it?" He asked him as they headed out of the door, turning back to give a wave goodbye to Jazz, who cast a skeptical eye at the gym bag that Sam had brought with her. To tell the truth, Tucker had been sort of worrying about Danny ever since he heard he'd come down with such a weird condition. It didn't sound normal, and it sounded like something he should probably be worrying about more. After all, Tucker had never even _heard _of some kind of 'nocturnal sickness'. "It sounds sort of fun to be able to stay up all night, but it's got to be hell to pay in the morning. Especially when you have to deal with school and stuff. Have you ever considered night school?"

"Tell me about it." Danny rolled his eyes. "When I get to college, I'm taking all my courses in the late afternoon and evening. And I don't _want _to go to night school, I wouldn't be able to hang out with the two of you then." He told him, glancing back at the gym bag Sam carried as well. After he shut the door behind him, he looked over at Sam, quirking an eyebrow. "We're not actually going to school though, are we?" He asked her.

"Nope." Sam shook her head. "We are going to get to the bottom of my powers, which, by the way, are still here, in case you were wondering." She said, adjusting the bag strap a little. "Find ourselves a nice out of the way place, and run some tests."

"Well, if it's an out of a way place you want, I know a few." Danny gave them a quick grin, and laughed when his friends exchanged a look. "What do you guys think I do at night anyways, stay at home and play video games?" He asked them. "Okay, I do that sometimes, but- you'd be amazed at how easy it is to find interesting places when everybody else in the city is asleep. I know this place like the back of my hand now." He yawned then. "Even if it is annoying come morning time. If we were just going to skip school anyways, couldn't you two have gotten me later though?"

"Would have looked too suspicious." Sam said, taking his hand. "Man up Danny, you can nap while we're doing some training. Where was this place you were thinking of, though?" She asked. "We could make it our secret hideout, if it's nice enough."

"Yeah, she took the whole superhero idea a little bit seriously." Tucker told him.

"Well, I think Sam would make a great superhero! I mean, she's strong, she's fast, she's smart... and that was even _before _the ghost powers. With them, well, I'd hate to be the person going up against her." Danny said with a wide grin, wrapping an arm around Sam's shoulder. As he did, he frowned. "You're still pretty cold Sam. You sure you're feeling alright?" He asked her.

"I think being half-ghost, or whatever it is I am, have dropped my vitals some." Sam told him. "At least, my body temperature is a good bit lower than it should be- but I feel just fine. I mean, aside from randomly falling through floors and stuff, that's a little disconcerting. I should probably remember to avoid the nurse's office and the doctor's in the future, though."

"On the plus side, she found the old Pokemon cards I thought I'd lost!" Tucker chimed in. "And you should _always _be avoiding doctors and nurses, Sam. Bad stuff goes down in those places." He said, sagely.

"Didn't you lose those cards in the fourth grade?" Danny asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"And I've been missing them ever since!" Tucker told him. "Don't mock Pokemon, Danny." He warned him.

"Alright, alright." Danny held up his hands, tucking them in his pockets. "So you guys want a secret hideout, huh?" He asked them, flashing them a grin. "Well, I have just the place in mind. Follow me then!" He told them, steering them towards the warehouse district.

"So your parents just let you wander the streets at night? I always thought they were sort of paranoid about that stuff. I wish _my _parents didn't care so much about what I was doing at night." Tucker asked, trailing behind his friends, unable to keep up with Danny's quick stride, and Sam's more even paced stride, which was still faster than his normal walking speed. They both moved pretty quickly! He guessed it was the price he had to pay for having two friends who were so much more physically fit than himself.

And to think, Danny had been in the same group as him around three years ago. Tucker seriously needed to consider asking about his workout regime, because it had obviously done the once weak and wimpy kid good. Nobody even picked on him anymore, like they had in middle school.

"Pretty much." Danny told them. In reality, it wasn't like there was much out there that could actually hurt him anymore, something his parents seemed to acknowledge. Most people, after all, didn't exactly wander around armed with silver. He knew they didn't exactly like his night wandering habits, but they also didn't feel it was right to stop him. "It's either that, or I sit around the house making too much noise for them to sleep." He laughed a little. "You try being wide awake when everyone else around you is fast asleep, it's disconcerting. Besides, I keep safe. Not like there's much crime going on in Amity Park to begin with." He paused, glancing back at Sam. "That could be a hindrance to the crime fighting thing, now that I think about it."

"Oh no, not crime." Sam grinned. "Tucker and I haven't told you about it yet, but we met another ghost last night." She told him.

Danny stopped in his tracks, shocked into being wide awake. "_What?_" He said, whirling around, grabbing Sam's shoulders, so fast, she barely had time to react. "_When!?_"

"_Easy_, Danny." Sam said, wincing a little underneath his grip. She had forgotten how strong it could be. Seeing this, Danny backed off, dropping his hands to his sides. "I'm fine, it wasn't much." She said. "It called itself the Box Ghost, or something." She chuckled. "Hardly much of a threat, it looked like a chubby blue guy in overalls. As you can guess from the name, it was really fond of boxes."

"She sent it packing! It was _awesome._" Tucker declared. "It tried to come into my house and mess things up in the basement. You know how my basement is filled with nothing but old boxes and shit, right?" He asked him. "Anyways, we heard some strange noises from down there, so we went to investigate."

"And we found him dumping out all of the boxes all over the floor and trying to claim them for himself. The boxes, that is, not the contents." Sam explained. "Of course he was making a horrible mess, so we told him to stop, but he wasn't exactly listening so..."

"You should have seen it, Danny!" Tucker grinned. "A couple of punches to the right places, and the ghost was tearing out of there."

"So you fought a ghost?" Danny asked her. "Also by the way, I should probably point out that we can't see your legs right now, Sam." He said, glancing downwards.

"Oops!" Sam flushed, concentrating on bringing them back into visibility. She let out a small breath as they appeared again. "Still having a lot of trouble with these powers. I need to get used to them soon, before somebody sees me doing something that I shouldn't be doing, and I end up on some government examination table somewhere. But to answer your question, Danny, yes, I fought a ghost last night. Granted it wasn't much of a fight, I think it was pretty weak."

"Don't worry, Sam, Tucker and I won't let you end up in one of those places." Danny promised her. He would sooner let himself wind up one of those tables than put Sam in danger. "But, these ghosts- you think there's going to be more of them?"

"I got that impression, yeah." Sam nodded her head. When Danny started to lead again, she followed behind him, reaching out to take his hand. Tucker made some whistling sounds in the background, and they both shot a glare back towards him, which didn't effect him very much. "More than likely, they might try and stir up trouble around here. And I know your folks are ghost hunters, but your dad is kind of..."

"Incompetent?" Danny laughed. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Are you sure you want to do this, though, Sam? It was just a joke, after all, you don't have to take it seriously."

"Oh no, I'm _doing _this." Sam told him, her voice firm. "No question about it. I would hope that I could have you two as my backup, though." She said. "It would be nice to know that someone has my back out there."

"Of course!" Danny said quickly. "Unless you need back up at like, seven in the morning or something." He laughed a little, his exhaustion coming back to him now that he was calmer. He had conked out around five thirty last night, so he'd only gotten a couple of hours worth of sleep. "But if you need someone to have your back at say, three in the morning, I'm your guy."

"Good to know." Sam grinned.

"So are you going to tell your parents about this?" Danny asked Sam, glancing back at her. The three friends exchanged looks with each other, before they burst out into a fit of laughter.

"Taking that as a no." Tucker remarked, after they had calmed down.

"Yeah, _big _no. Parents don't listen, and even worse, they don't understand." Sam said, rolling her eyes. "If I told them I had ghost powers, they would just ship me off to some asylum somewhere. And even if they believed me, you know they'd still ship me off somewhere in order to get me 'fixed'."

"Probably." Danny said. "Oh, we're here." He told them, grinning from ear to ear. If his tail had been out, it would have been wagging hard.

Here turned out to be a run down and abandoned warehouse, just towards the rear of the docks. It looked as if nobody had used it for years, and the large doors were chained tight. It was walled off from the outside, though the actual gate to it was missing for some reason, providing some privacy, and was out of the way, where nobody really had much of a cause to venture, so nobody would really notice if anyone went in and out of it. "They shut this place down around ten years ago, far as I can tell." Danny told them.

"Yeah, but how do we get in?" Tucker asked.

"I know how we can get in." Sam grinned, a sly look coming across her face. "At least, I _think _so. It's been something I've been wanting to try. So um, don't blame me if it gets a little weird, okay?"

Danny and Tucker exchanged a look, before Sam took both of their arms and closed her eyes, concentrating. There was a faint tingling sensation, and then a rush of cold air, and they found that their bodies had become see through. Sam half dragged the pair of gawking boys through the massive wooden doors, inside of the abandoned warehouse.

"Huh." Danny said after a moment, as Sam let go of them and they went back to normal, looking over his hands. "Well, that was a thing." He blinked.

"I'll say. You can turn other people intangible too, Sam?" Tucker asked. "That's kind of neat. What else can you do?"

"As long as I'm touching them, apparently, yes. As for what else I can do, well, we'll find out, won't we?" Sam grinned, looking pleased that her test had worked out as she had expected. "I'm glad it worked out. We'd have had a tough time getting in here by ourselves otherwise."

"Apparently _not_, given that Danny has apparently brought a Fenton Generator here and has decorated it." Tucker observed, quirking an eyebrow as Danny flicked on the lights. There was a groaning noise as the generator started up, and several of the overhead lights flickered on. Although they had light coming in through the windows located high up on the walls, it wasn't really enough to fully illuminate the place, at least not for human eyes. As the lights came on, they showed that there was in fact, furniture in the place, a couple of bean bags that he had dragged here one night, a bookcase that was lined with various books, and small black and white television that was plugged into the generator that he had found while out one night. There was also a mini-fridge, also plugged into the generator, one of two that his parents had bought for him, the other being located in his room.

Wolves _were _predatory animals, and although his mother had no real qualms about properly preparing and cooking anything Danny caught while full wolf, she had decided that she didn't want it in the fridge with the rest of their food (even though she stored ectoplasm samples in there, and any food that they managed to reanimate). Therefore, any 'leftovers' were stored in one of the mini-fridges. Thankfully, it was empty of any meat at the moment- Danny would have a hard time explaining why there were rabbit corpses inside of it to his friends.

"I sort of use it as one of my main hang outs." Danny told them, giving them a sheepish smile. One of many, in fact, although this was his 'main base' of sorts, hence why there was so much stuff in it. "It's nice and spacious, so I thought it would give Sam plenty of space to practice with her ghost powers."

"When were you planning on telling us you had a secret base, Danny?" Tucker asked, arching an eyebrow. "Exactly what kind of life do you live when we're all asleep, dude? You hit up the clubs or anything?"

"That's a secret." Danny gave him a playful grin, then rolled his eyes. "And this is Amity Park, we don't _have _clubs. But it's a good thing I have one, or we might have spent all day looking for a place like this. People would have gotten suspicious after awhile to see three high schooler's wandering around while school was supposed to be in session."

"Good point." Tucker said, collapsing in one of the bean bag chairs.

"Well, I like it at any rate." Sam said, dropping the gym bag down. "This seems nice, I vote that we definitely make this our secret base."

"Vote seconded!" Tucker chimed in, raising his hand. "So let's see that ghost half of yours, Sam."

"Right." Sam nodded, taking in and letting out a deep breath. "Here goes." She said, closing her eyes. There was that flash of violet around her waist again, and in a flash she was back in her ghost form. "I've been able to finally get a hang of my floating at least." She told Danny, showing it off by hovering a few feet in the air. "So, hopefully no worries about me flying off into the atmosphere or anything like that."

"Well, that's always good news." Danny said, flopping back on one of the other bean bag chairs with a loud yawn, blinking his eyes tiredly. "So what's in the gym bag?"

Sam's cheeks heated up a little, her fiery ponytail responding by flickering a little brighter. "Well," She laughed, floating over towards it, and picking it up, unzipping it. "I thought if I was going to be a superhero, we should probably do something about my costume."

"Really? I think the black and violet hazmat looks pretty classy as it is." Danny said, frowning.

"It's a good base, sure." Sam began. "But it needs something more. A little more pizzazz, if you will." Clapping her hands, Sam landed back on the ground, dumping the contents of her bag to the ground. Various pieces of clothing, a sewing kit, scraps of cloth, scissors, and an endless assortment of accessories and footwear tumbled out of it, clattering against the ground. "So I thought we could start by working on that." She grinned.

"Geez Sam, what did you do, bring your whole wardrobe?" Danny asked, quirking a brow.

"I resisted the temptation." Sam told him, giving him a wry grin. "I had to stop by my house anyways, so I thought, why not pick up a few things?"

"Well I think this sounds exciting!" Tucker said, jumping to his feet, scrambling to pick up the sewing kit. He blinked, glancing between his friends, who were sharing a look of mild amusement, and he cleared his throat. "I mean, not that I like sewing or fashion or anything like that. Of course not!" He said. "That's for girls."

"Your secret is safe with us, Tucker." Sam assured him. "And less weird than anyone else's in this room."

"Yeah well, it's a lot less cool than ghost powers or super healing." Tucker mumbled.

"Aw, don't get so down about it, Tuck." Danny said, standing up. "It's not all fun and games. Nobody's going to try and abduct you in the dark of night to take you to a lab where they will run terrible experiments on you because you like to sew." He pointed out.

"That's true." Tucker admitted. "But it would probably be social suicide."

"Well I don't see why it would have to be." Sam scoffed, rolling her eyes. "There's nothing wrong with a guy liking to sew. It's like they're saying being feminine is somehow an inherently bad thing. You shouldn't be ashamed of your talents Tucker. Nobody in your sewing class mocks you."

"Of course I don't think there's anything wrong with being a girl. But not everyone shares your sentiments, Sam. Would be nice though." Tucker rolled his eyes. "Anyways, we're getting off topic here Sam. I thought we were going to do something about your superhero costume?" He asked, unable to help the amused look that came across his face.

"Oh shut up, I'm trying to do good here." Sam snapped. She started by tugging off the combat boots she had been wearing all this time, and began sorting through the various pieces of footwear she had with her. The two boys took seats as well, encircling the various items that Sam had brought with her. "If more ghosts come, somehow I'll doubt they'll be as placid and weak as the Box Ghost."

"But isn't ghost fighting what Danny's parents do?" Tucker asked her.

"Yeah well, they've never actually seen a ghost." Sam pointed out.

"Neither have we, until yesterday." Tucker shot back. "What makes you think you'll be any better at it than they would? I mean, I know there's Danny's dad and all, but his mom is pretty darn competent. No offense, dude." He said, glancing over at Danny, who was busy digging through the clothing items Sam had brought with her.

"None taken." Danny paused, then pulled out a black lace bra out of the pile. "Sam, did you uh, mean to bring this with you?"

Sam's face instantly turned red, quickly snatching it away from him and losing her transformation as she did so. She wordlessly stuffed the bra back inside of her bag, and sent them both a death glare, warning them that they were never to speak of that again.

"Take that as a no." Danny observed.

"Shut it." Sam warned him, concentrating on transforming into her ghost form again. "I just grabbed a bunch of stuff quickly before my parents thought anything was up. Maybe I'll tell everyone Danny Fenton sleeps half naked, though." She said, grumbling a little.

"Now now, no need for the lovebirds to fight." Tucker said, holding up his hands, a sly grin appearing on his face. "It's not like you guys won't be seeing all of that stuff in the future." That comment got a platform boot and a pair of black stockings chucked at his face, from both Danny and Sam, but he laughed it off. "Ah, young love. It's so sweet and innocent."

"Keep that up, and we won't be helping you in any more schemes to get Valerie to date you." Sam glowered at him. After Tucker just laughed again, brushing off the threat, she turned back towards Danny. "For starters, I was thinking some fingerless gloves would look good." She told him, tugging off the now violet gloves that she wore. They had been black when she went in, but it seemed that the black and violet parts of her hazmat suit had switched colors after the accident.

"It's your call." Danny said, shrugging his shoulders. "I think you'd look good in anything, to be honest."

"I swear, you are just as bad as Tucker sometimes." Sam said. In spite of the casual bickering that went on, they finally managed to work together to decide on what Sam's ghost form would be wearing. Keeping the Hazmat base, Sam found a pair of black fingerless gloves and a black choker, as well as a pair of violet almost knee-length boots, which zipped up in the front. With Tucker's assistance, they altered the long sleeves of the Hazmat suit, leaving her shoulders bare, and giving it a short sleeved, off hanging look.

"What about your name?" Tucker asked, satisfied that the sleeves wouldn't fall off, looking over his work with pride. "You can't go around using your own name. And who knows what kind of name they'll give you if you don't decide on one for yourself."

"That's true." Sam frowned. "Something ghostly, of course. Maybe the Spectral Lady? Lady Specter?"

"Too wordy." Danny turned it down. "Something simpler, maybe."

"Yeah like, Girl Ghost!" Tucker said with a grin.

"Ew, no, that makes me sound like a sidekick." Sam wrinkled her nose, frowning. She transformed back into her human form now that their work on her outfit was done, for the moment. "Maybe something classy and simple like Phantom? Or Phantasma!" She exclaimed after a moment, the look in her eyes alone was enough to tell that she liked this one the most.

"Oh yeah, that sounds great!" Danny said. "You could call yourself Sam Phantasma."

"What, and give my secret identity away to the whole neighborhood?" Sam asked, rolling her eyes. "Just Phantasma, I think works best Danny."

"Aw." Danny pouted. "I thought it sounded good."

Sam laughed, starting to put away the unused items in her gym bag. "Well, now that that's all figured out, we should probably figure out what it is I can do exactly." She said.

"Do you think you can fly?" Tucker asked suddenly, closing up the sewing kit. "I mean, you can obviously float, so why not try and see if you can go the whole nine yards?"

"I don't know, what if she falls?" Danny asked, looking hesitant.

"Well, if I do, hopefully, someone will catch me." Sam said, zipping up her bag and standing up, brushing dust off herself. "It's worth a try anyways. Flying sounds... neat."

"Yeah come on man, where's your sense of adventure?" Tucker asked, getting to his feet. Danny frowned, looking a little skeptical, but stood up with them. "Come on Sam. Let's see what you can _really _do now."

"Aye Aye~" Sam flashed a grin, switching into her ghost form again. It was pretty easy to do when she got the hang of it actually, just a simple bit of willing herself to become a ghost, or become a human. "Alright, so why don't we start off with that flight, huh? We already know I can turn invisible and intangible, no need to test that out- and we know I can float, which I'm starting to get the hang of." She said, rising off the ground as she said so.

"Just picture yourself moving through the air, I guess." Tucker said. "I don't know, I don't know how to fly."

"I'll figure it out one way or another." Sam said, concentrating. Slowly, she moved a little across the room, a bit shaky, still only just a few feet off the ground. Focusing a little more, she felt herself rising up, a bit startled when she went higher than she had intended, now just inches from the ceiling. She could still see the startled looks of her friends on the ground below, however. "It's okay, I'm fine!" She called out to them. "I think I just accelerated too fast. Don't worry!"

They seemed to relax at that, and Sam grinned. "Okay Manson. Let's see what you can do."

* * *

"Okay, so." Tucker said, holding a notepad and a pen in one hand. "Intangibility, check. Invisibility, check. Floating and flying, also check." Glancing up, at a hole in the ceiling that hadn't been there before, he looked back down, looking directly at Sam as he spoke again. "Shooting lasers or what the hell ever, also check."

"Sorry about that." Sam said quickly, face flushed. She was human once more, sitting in a bean bag chair, three of which had been arranged in a circle. Danny was conked out in another one, drooling a little as he slept. Sometimes he would even kick one of his legs, which caused the both of them to snort. He had fallen asleep some time during Sam's trials, shortly after she had discovered her ecto beams, and they had decided against waking him up. "At least I wasn't aiming at anyone at the time."

"True enough." Tucker said, closing the notepad and tucking it and the pen back in his bag. "You'll have to watch where you aim those things though, they look like they could cause some serious damage if lead off course."

It was now late in the afternoon, and school was probably well over for the day. Right about now, their parents were probably all getting phone calls from the school, asking where they had all been for the day. Detention and possible grounding was in their future, but it had been more than worth it.

Danny stirred a little, blinking awake. Groaning, he sat up, rubbing sleep out of his eyes, and wiping some drool off the side of his chin. "Ugh. Sorry about that, did I fall asleep?"

"For a couple of hours, yeah." Sam told him. "I think we're done here, at least for the moment." She told him. "Why don't we all go and get something to eat though? It's way past lunch time, and I'm sort of starving."

"I second that notion." Tucker raised a hand.

"I third." Danny agreed, getting to his feet. "I miss anything important?"

"Oh, just a lot of boring test and trials." Sam told him. "And don't worry, I didn't let Tucker draw anything on your face while you were sleeping, although he wanted to." She assured her boyfriend, shooting a glare over towards Tucker.

"Aw, c'mon, my pen washes off easily enough." Tucker protested. "I swear you have no sense of fun, Sam."

"I'll remember that the next time you fall asleep during a sleep over, Tucker." Danny noted, an evil glint in his eyes.

"Or you know what?" Tucker said, tugging nervously on his collar. "It's actually sort of rude. Drawing on people's face is a terrible thing to do when they're sleeping, why did you even suggest it Sam?"

Sam gave Tucker a wordless glower, before she rolled her eyes and picked up her gym bag. Or she tried to, at least, and instead let out a frustrated grumble when her hand when intangible, and it slipped right from her grasp. "_Darnit_."

"Still having trouble with those powers?" Danny asked, scooping it up for her, and slinging it over his shoulder.

Sam heaved a sigh, nodding her head. "With practice, I imagine I can get them under control, but I think they're going to keep acting up for awhile. The good news is though, that if something else pops up, some other ghost, I should at least be able have some reliable source of firepower." She told him, frowning a little.

"Well, don't worry about it." Danny said, leaning in to give her a kiss on the forehead. "We'll cover for you if you have any mishaps." He told her.

Sam gave him a little smile. "Thanks, Danny." She flushed a little as her stomach grumbled, and she rubbed the back of her head. "Right, well, you heard the stomach. Let's go find us some chow before our parents try and track us down for ditching school."

"Mine have already left me seven messages." Tucker said. "Probably more, since I turned my phone off. Good thing I had it set on vibrate, otherwise that would be really annoying. Of course," he grinned, a mischievous look in his eyes. "Sam now has the ultimate get out of parental punishment free card."

"I do, don't I?" Sam said, eyes brightening. "I actually hadn't thought of it that way, but you're right, Tucker." She paused, blinking. "Hm. There's something I thought I would never say."

"Hey!" Tucker snapped, glowering at her a little. "Don't treat me like I'm so unreliable."

Sam and Danny simply chuckled, though Danny's laughter was cut short when Sam turned to him. "So how do you usually get in and out of here Danny?" She asked him. "We can't just keep relying on me to phase through the door."

"Uh," Danny paused, turning pale. He couldn't exactly tell them that he jumped up to one of the windows, and went in through there, now could he? "Actually I think relying on your intangibility is a good idea. It'll give you some more practice, you know." He said quickly, making a mental note to come back here tonight and make a convincing alternate entrance.

That was, after he took care of something that had been bothering him ever since he caught a whiff of Sam's ghost form scent.

"Well, alright, if you insist." Sam said with a small frown. Was Danny keeping something from her? There was something in his expression that suggested this, and she had known him long enough to recognize it. Normally she would just reject outright the idea that he was hiding things from her- after all, before they were going out, they had been best friends, right? However, the fact that he had been keeping his super healing abilities from her suggested otherwise, and for a brief moment, she couldn't help but wonder exactly what else Danny was hiding from her.

Sometimes it felt like he had a whole other life he didn't tell her about. Tucker didn't seem to have any idea about it either. How long had he been using this place as a hide out? What exactly did he do at night?

But for the moment, Sam decided not to press the issue, the growling of her stomach the more pressing issue at hand. "Here goes." She said, grabbing Danny and Tucker's hands. Concentrating, she managed to turn the three of them intangible again, and they slipped out through the wall of the warehouse.

"That is _so _cool." Tucker said with a broad grin as Sam released her grip on them. "I think I'm going to _like _being friends with someone with ghost powers. Hey, maybe you could try and hunt down the rumored Amity Park werewolf!" He said quickly, before blanching and going wide eyed, covering his mouth as he realized what he had just said.

"W-w-werewolf?" Sam stammered, the color draining from her face. "Th-there's no real werewolf in Amity Park, r-right?" She asked, clutching Tucker's arm in a death grip. "That's just a silly rumor, it's just a big dog or something people see sometimes. No wolves, right?" She asked.

"Right of course!" Tucker said quickly, trying and failing to free his arm from Sam's vice grip. "What was I thinking, there's no such thing as werewolves!" He laughed. "And there wouldn't be any wolves in this area either! You're safe Sam, there aren't any here." Tucker reassured her, and that seemed to calm her down. He did find it a little strange how she always gravitated towards him whenever the werewolf rumors were brought up, and not Danny, who was her boyfriend.

The rumors had started about two years ago, when someone had found a torn up deer corpse in one of the deep forest that wasn't far from Amity Park. They showed up every once in awhile since then, sometimes large birds or rabbits showed up as well. Some people claimed that they had seen a massive black wolf, far too large for a normal wolf. Thus, the werewolf rumors had been born, and nobody in Amity Park hadn't heard about them. It sent a fresh wave of terror through Sam every single time she heard them mentioned- one would think she would get used to it, but apparently, phobias didn't work that way.

If there was a werewolf in Amity Park, Tucker thought it would be something to worry about. He hadn't thought much of the rumors before- but if ghosts were real, then werewolves probably were too.

But he shouldn't mention that to Sam.

"Right Danny?" Tucker asked. "There's no such thing as werewolves?"

"Right." Danny grinned, hands tucked in his pockets. "Of course there's not, Sam. It's probably just a bunch of stray dogs or something." He told her, lying through his teeth, forcing himself not to let the pain that he was feeling show up on his face. He had noticed that Sam never tried to seek comfort from him whenever she was having a panic attack anymore, as if on some subconscious level she sensed that he couldn't be trusted. Her attacks sometimes even got worse when he got too close to her, so he knew to stay away and leave it to Tucker.

Sam had gone to _Dash _once during a bad panic attack, simply because Tucker wasn't around, even though Danny had been right next to her. Thankfully, the jock at least had presence of mind not to harass a girl quaking in her boots, and had awkwardly done his best, while Danny had hung around glumly in the background. Sam's panic attacks were the one time, the _only _time, when she needed to depend on someone, and he couldn't be there for her, all because _he _was the source of them.

Danny was usually pretty okay with being a werewolf.

These times were exceptions.

Sam calmed down after a minute, taking in and letting out a deep breath, visibly embarrassed. "Right, of course. Sorry Tucker." She said, letting go of him. "I'll pay for your burger to make up for the nasty bruise that's going to leave you."

"Free burgers are the best kind of burgers!" Tucker grinned, glancing over at Danny. "You okay, dude?" He asked.

"Oh yeah." Danny said, faking another smile. "I'm fine. I can't convince you to pay for my burgers too, huh Sam?"

"Not a chance." Sam grinned at him. "Consider it payback for keeping things from me."

"Ah, you wound me." He laughed. If only his real secret would just earn a reaction of being denied free burgers, then everything would be just fine.

* * *

Well, Danny had been right about the fact that his parents would be mad. At least he was able to come up with a convincing excuse to get them off his back, claiming that he had some 'werewolf issues' and had ended up leaving school shortly after arriving, and that he had no idea Sam and Tucker had left as well, and suggested that they might have been looking for him out of worry. That seemed to work, although from the way Jazz looked at him, he could tell she wasn't convinced. He ended up explaining what they had been doing all day to her, and she seemed to except that explanation with ease, and a quick warning to go to school properly tomorrow.

She seemed amused when Danny told her that Sam intended to try and become a superhero though, but looked a little alarmed when he told her that she had already seen and fought a ghost, even if it had been mostly harmless. He declined to tell her though that she had another panic attack today.

"Wait- so there really are other ghosts out there?" Jazz asked him. "Like, real ghosts?" She asked.

"Jazz, you know that werewolves, vampires, zombies, and all sorts of other supernatural nonsense exists- why do ghosts surprise you so much?" Danny asked her, swishing his tail behind him.

"All of that stuff has some kind of biological basis, Danny." Jazz told him. "Ghosts- ghosts don't." She said with a frown. "Also, I just don't like the idea that mom and dad have been right all this time, and I've been wrong." She admitted after a second.

"That's sort of what I thought." Danny grinned, laughing a little when Jazz chucked a pillow at him, easily catching it. "Come on Jazz, lighten up. Just because you were wrong doesn't mean it's the end of the world. I mean, you got used to me being a werewolf, right? It's not that big of a deal."

Jazz sighed, relenting. "That's true. I just don't like the idea of Sam throwing herself in harm's way though. And you know if our parents find out about it, they'll hunt her just as eagerly as they hunt other ghosts, right?" She asked him. "I'll do my best to do my part, but without Sam knowing that I know her secret, my hands are sort of tied. You'll have to be the one to keep an eye on her, Danny." She told him. "Are you sure you'll be able to do that without revealing your own secret?"

"Of course." Danny said, laughing a little. "I mean, I've kept it for what, two years now? I'll be _fine_." He said. "Look Jazz, I can appreciate that you're worried about us, but really, what's the worst that could happen? Sam has superpowers now, and I'm pretty darn hard to kill."

"Tucker's not though, and we don't know the extent of Sam's powers." Jazz pointed out, then heaved a sigh. "But I can see that trying to talk you out of this is fruitless. Just... be careful, okay Danny? You know I worry about you."

"I know." Danny nodded his head. "And I appreciate that, a lot." He said. "You've were there for me a lot when I was I was getting used to my changes. I don't think I could have asked for a better older sister."

"Oh, now you're just trying to suck up." Jazz gave him a quick grin.

"Is it that obvious?" Danny laughed. "I should probably head out though. I have to make a convincing new entrance on our secret base."

"And?" Jazz asked, looking at her brother. "I sense an and there, baby brother."

Danny flinched. Jazz always could see right through him. "_And _I think I know where there's another ghost." He said after a moment. "I can't tell you anything else though, because it might put me in trouble."

Jazz gave him a long look, before she heaved a sigh. "Don't do anything rash, Danny." She said after a moment. "The last thing I want to see is you winding up on some lab table somewhere."

"Don't worry, that is _not _going to happen." He said, getting up, tail wagging behind him. "If mom and dad are looking for me, tell them I've gone out and not to wait up."

* * *

"Well now, Fenton." A woman's cool voice spoke. "I always thought you had a good nose, but I must admit, I'm a little surprised that you were able to track me this far. I did not expect you to turn up on my doorstep in the middle of the night."

"I know what you are now." Danny spoke up, yellow eyes glaring at the women in question. She sat on the edge of a bed she didn't need, in an apartment that she probably hadn't obtained through money, like normal people would. "You and your little snippy assistant. And I want to know what it is you think you're doing at Casper High."

"My job." Penelope Spectra said smoothly. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"There's something wrong with it when you're a _ghost_." Danny told her directly, growling lowly at her. "I always thought you smelled wrong Spectra. It just took me awhile to figure out that aside from your perfume, you had no real scent."

"Not even trying to hide it, are you wolf boy?" She asked, standing up, her eyes glowing bright red. "Not that it's _hard _to pick out the one oddball student out from the rest of those adorable little cesspools of misery. But I must say, you're pretty brave to come here alone."

"I might not be able to damage you directly, but I know someone who can." Danny growled. "And I don't think you're just a benevolent therapist, Spectra. I know, I went to a session with you. That was a mistake. Lucky for me, I realized that." He said.

"Mm." Spectra raised her brows. "But if you tell someone about me, Daniel, I might be inclined to let your cute little girlfriend in on your secret. I wonder what she would think about you _then_."

Danny flinched, something which he quickly regretted as a pleased expression crossed Spectra's face. "You wouldn't _dare_." He growled, baring fangs at her.

"Temper, temper." Spectra wagged a finger, her amused expression never leaving her face. "And I would. What do I have to lose, anyways? It's no problem for me to pack up and move to a new school, but someone like you is going to have a hard time leaving your old life behind if the whole town finds out that they have a werewolf in their midst. You know there are already rumors, right?" She asked him. "People question it when deer cadavers turn up, even if it's only once in awhile. I wonder how they'll react when they find out that they have a monster living among them."

"I'm _not _a monster." Danny said lowly, the fur on his ears and tail raising, shoulders tensing. "Nobody would think that. Everyone knows me."

"Oh, but that's not what you really think, is it?" Spectra asked, vanishing in a flash, and appearing behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder. A cold shudder ran through Danny, as if something had almost been sucked out of him. He spun around quickly though, snarling at her, and Spectra laughed shortly. "See, that's what I'm talking about. Werewolves are predators, and humans are naturally afraid of predators. Some," she said, raising her brows. "...more than others. Like Miss Manson, for instance."

"Sam would be fine with it!" He yelled, although he was doubting the words as he spoke them, something which he knew Spectra knew as well. "So _what _if I'm a werewolf? It's not like it changes who I am as a person."

"Oh really now?" Spectra asked. "Is that why you haven't told her a single thing, kept her in the dark?" She asked him. "I've read her profile, I know what she's afraid of. And I know what you're afraid of, Danny boy. That your little girlfriend will turn on you the moment she finds out about it."

"Sam's not like that." Danny snapped.

"Then why haven't you told her yet?" Spectra asked. "If the chance that she would reject you wasn't there, then you wouldn't even be worried about it, and yet, you are." She said. "But I'm a fair woman, Daniel." She told him. "I'll leave you, your little girlfriend and your techno geek friend alone, and you'll leave me in peace. After all," She said, giving him a chilling smile. "I've been in Amity Park for three years now. If I was plotting something devious, don't you think I would have done it by now?"

Danny's eyes narrowed. "You can't fool me, Spectra. You're up to something, I can tell that much." He paused, wearing a tight frown. "But fine. I accept your terms. And you won't touch Jazz, either."

Spectra rolled her eyes at that. "Honey, the reason I didn't include your sister was because depressing her is nigh impossible. You'd have to actually kill someone to get her down in the dumps."

"Yeah, that's sort of true." Danny admitted. "_Fine_. But you had better keep up your end of the bargain, Spectra. Because if you don't, then I don't plan on keeping mine either, and my parents will learn about you."

"Oh, don't worry. I might be a ghost, but I do have a sense of self-preservation." Spectra told him.

"...I'll be watching you though." Danny warned her, golden eyes bright in the darkness of her room, Spectra's own red eyes glowing right back at him. "If I think you're up to no good, I'll gladly sacrifice my secret to protect everyone."

"Oh, I know you would." Spectra said smoothly, something about the way she did so sent chills down Danny's spine. "I know."

Danny's eyes didn't leave Spectra as he backed out of her room, leaving her apartment in a frustrated mood. Growling underneath his breath, he quickened his pace once he left the apartment building, heading into a more secluded area. He broke out into a run as he did so, willing the transformation to come over him, his body shifting and changing, fur growing out, leaving a massive black wolf in his place, white patches over his paws, chest, and down the center of his face. Letting out a howl, which the local dogs echoed, he made for the outskirts of town, intending to find some poor hapless small animal to take this misplaced aggression of his out on.


	4. Dog Chase

Author's Note: A wild chapter four appears! I don't have much to say about this chapter, other than I feel it got away from me in a few places, hm. Not my best I think, although not my worst either. The next shall be better, of that I am sure, at the very least!

As always, Danny Phantom does not belong to me. Please read and review, if you could be so kind~!

* * *

Wolf Boy x Ghost Girl

Chapter Four: Dog Chase

"Wow, someone looks like he woke up on the wrong side of bed today." Tucker observed as he caught up with his friend, quirking an eyebrow. "I mean, you look worse than you usually do in the mornings, Danny, no offense."

"Ugh, none taken. I feel worse than usual." Danny admitted, giving his friend a sheepish grin as he caught up with him. He had burned off all of his frustration at Spectra last night, and had wound up sleeping out in the woods instead of in his bed, back at home. His mom had been pretty angry with him when he finally managed to get back home. To be honest, the last thing he wanted to do was go to school, but he figured he should probably be there on the off chance that Sam needed him for something. "Where's Sam?" He asked, glancing around for her.

"I think she beat us here. Her parents had the driver take her in today." Tucker told him. "I saw her on the way to school, she looked like she was begging me to save her."

"I guess she can't just slip out of a moving car." Danny laughed. "No way to explain that one to her parents."

"Tell me about it." Sam said dryly, joining them. She had been waiting for them to arrive, sitting on the front steps of Casper High School, grateful that she had at least convinced the chauffeur to drop her off a block away from the school. She had practically raced over towards her friends when she spotted them coming in.

"I don't see what your hold up is Sam. If I were you, I'd let everyone know about that pile of money just sitting in your parent's laps." Tucker told her. "You never know, it could be your one way ticket to popularity!"

"Yeah well, I don't want to have to deal with all the shallow, two faced friends that come with that." Sam said, rolling her eyes. "I have to deal with enough of those sorts of people whenever I have to go to one of my parent's functions. Ugh, those people give me the worst sort of creeps, I swear." She said, shivering a little, no doubt dredging up some sort of unpleasant memory. "They act like they're some sort of cosmic's gods plastic playthings."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Danny nodded his head. "I had to meet them once at that dinner party your parents forced you to bring me to two months ago. I think they were trying to intimidate me out of dating you. I don't think I've ever seen more self centered people in my life. From the way they looked at me, you would have thought I was a pile of dog shit on their shoes."

"Yeah, they think Danny's a bad influence on you." Tucker sniggered. "I don't think they understand that you're the one influencing us into doing bad things. And to think, we used to be such innocent children!"

"Yeah, well, I don't exactly hear the two of you protesting much." Sam observed, raising he brows. "And I'm still sorry about that Danny. But you did look cute in that suit, even if it was rented." She told him, which caused a blush to rise to his cheeks. "And it was a far more entertaining party with you there, and I don't just mean that because you got so angry at someone for talking badly of me that you threw a chicken leg at him."

"Damn waste of a chicken leg." Tucker shook his head mournfully. "You should have thrown tomatoes instead. They leave better stains."

"Yeah, but if I had done that, Sam would have probably bitten my head off." Danny joked, and Sam gave him a light punch to the shoulder.

"I wouldn't. Didn't I tell you already that I don't eat anything with a face?" Sam asked him, smirking a little. "Now, there are _other _punishments I might deal out to you."

"I think my entire life will be made better if I don't know what those punishments might be." Tucker said quickly. "Isn't it too early in the morning for the two of you to be lovey dovey?" He asked, crossing his arms.

"Tucker's just jealous because he doesn't have a girlfriend." Sam told Danny, twining her arm around his. "Well, don't worry about it so much Tucker!" She told him, giving him a friendly smile. "You're a great guy, I'm sure you'll find someone who feels about you the way I feel about Danny."

"Yeah, I hope so." Tucker said, frowning a little, kicking the ground a bit. "I mean, don't get me wrong- there's no way I'm begrudging you two your happiness together. Man, I've been waiting for you two to hook up for my entire life just about. You're the perfect couple!" He told them, beaming at them. "I just sort of expected to have a girlfriend myself by high school, you know?"

"Hey, it's only your first year. You've got four more ahead of you." Danny pointed out, fighting off a blush that had risen when Tucker described Sam and him as the 'perfect couple'. "Don't stress over it Tucker. It'll happen sooner or later. Sam's right, you are a great guy- there's probably plenty of girls out there who would want to date you."

"Yeah, I am pretty great, aren't I?" Tucker asked, suddenly chipper again. "I mean, where else can you find a guy this good looking, with this much style and charm? Nowhere, that's where!"

"Then again, with that ego, it might take longer than four years." Sam observed, arching her eyebrows, unable to avoid a playful smirk.

"Hey, I'm right here!" Tucker protested when Danny let out a chuckle in agreement. "You're just jealous because your man isn't nearly as fine as me."

"No, he's right, there's no way I can compare to you, Tucker." Danny said, unable to keep a straight face, which only served to irritate the technogeek all the more. "But seriously Tuck, don't let it get you so down. Even Dash doesn't have a girlfriend, and you know how he likes to claim he's the 'King of Casper High' and all that."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it." Tucker said, shoving Danny a little. "I don't have _that _many issues about not having a girlfriend, you know. I just think it would be nice, is all."

"If you say so." Sam grinned. "We'd better get to class. We'll see you at lunch, Danny." She said, giving him a quick peck on the lips. "After school, we're going to work with _you know what_ a little more."

"Your parents didn't ground you after yesterday's stunt?" Danny asked, quirking a brow.

"I have my ways." Sam said, smirking- and then made a look of disgust. "Okay, the cost of it was that I had to go to another one of their fancy formal rich people parties, but all said and done, it's not that bad."

"I'm guessing that they don't want me back to escort you." Danny joked, giving her a slight grin.

Sam snorted, shaking her head. "Not after the last time. I think they learned their lesson."

"You could always take me along!" Tucker offered, perking up. "I hear that they have some sweet grub at some of those gatherings!" He grinned. "And I'll have you know that I look just as dashing as Danny in a suit."

Sam laughed again. "I'll keep it in mind. Oh, there's the bell." She frowned a little, glancing over at Danny, giving him a small punch to the stomach. "Why do you have to be older than me anyways? I wish we could be in the same grade. I've only got this guy," she said, jabbing a finger towards Tucker. "...to keep me company."

"Hey, again, I'm right here!" Tucker protested, glowering at the goth girl.

"I don't think I'd be all that much company first thing in the morning, to be fair." Danny laughed. "I'm probably just going to go conk out during first period. I am way too tired to be awake right now. But I'll see you at lunch Sam, you too Tucker." He added, before leaning down a little to kiss Sam on the forehead.

"Farewell, I shall count the hours until we can see each other again~." Sam said teasingly, grinning a little as Tucker pretended to gag behind her. "Shut up, Tucker, I read that love poem you were going to give to Valerie for Valentine's Day. You don't have any place to talk."

"Hey, that poem was a fine work of art!" Tucker protested, following behind Sam as she headed off to her own class.

"Tucker, you spent an entire paragraph describing how much you liked Valerie's ass." Sam pointed out. "Hardly fine poetry. It's a good thing you never worked up the courage to give it to her."

"Hey, that ass _is _poetry, okay?" Tucker said, glowering at her- to which Sam simply shrugged off.

Danny watched the pair go, rolling his eyes a little, before heading towards his own first period. He paused, however, stopping in front of the door that lead to the student counselors office, casting a glower towards it. To be honest, his chat with Spectra last night still nagged at him, and he was still quite angry about it. Hunting had helped a little, but as the realization sunk in that he was going to have to do his damndest to protect Sam's new secret from the ghostly therapist, the anger had gradually come back.

He was going to keep an eye on that woman, that much was for sure.

"You got a problem with Miss Spectra, Fenton?"

"No Valerie, I just _really _like glaring at doors." Danny quipped, turning to meet the eyes of Valerie Gray. As much as Tucker liked the girl, Danny could never really bring himself to be her biggest fan. He couldn't decide if it was because she was another member of the often rather callous A List, or because she had one hell of a glare.

Werewolves generally didn't like to be glared at- they viewed it as a challenge. As much as he joked about it to Sam, about why he didn't like the sort of folk that hung around the Skulk and Lurk, the real reason was because he was afraid one day he might unthinkingly respond to said challenge.

"Oh yes, the ancient sport of glaring at inanimate objects." She quipped right back. "You're going to be late to first period- not that it even matters with you. Would it kill you to actually put a little effort into your schoolwork?"

"I put plenty of effort into my schoolwork when it is not first thing in the morning. Besides, I have a condition." Danny remarked, frowning at her.

"Right, a _condition_." Valerie's brows raised. "A condition of laziness, more like."

"What the hell is your problem with me anyways, Valerie?" Danny asked, glowering at her.

"My problem is that." Valerie said, pointing towards his eyes. "I don't like the way you look at me, Fenton. I like your friends just fine, they're alright kids for being F-List. But I don't like that look you have in your eyes."

"I could say the same about you, Valerie." Danny said, pushing aside her pointing finger. "Look, I'm going to class. I don't really feel like I'm in the mood for dealing with you today." He said shortly, before turning on his heel and all but storming into his first period. He always got the feeling that Valerie suspected something about him, but why an A List popular student would pay any mind to him was baffling to him. To be honest, although he never said it out loud, he just didn't see what it was that Tucker saw in her. Still, if she was the girl that Tucker liked, then Danny would be more than happy to try and push the two of them together if he could.

Maybe it would get her to stop glaring at him already.

* * *

"I'll ask you one more time, Danny." Sam began as she gazed at the sight before her. "How exactly do you even find these places?"

Having been unable to remember to make an entrance to the hideout that he had shown them yesterday, Danny had instead escorted them to another one that he used less often. It was out of the way, out towards the woods, in fact, and not many people came here- which was why he had picked it in the first place. Here stood a mysterious structure, a large, unexplained dome that looked as if had been abandoned years ago, hidden by thick foliage that blocked it from the view of the street. Nobody really knew about the place, but it was easy enough to get into, at least for him. After finding it, he had bought a chain lock for the doors, and had made it his own little place.

"There is a surprising amount of time available at night when you can't sleep." Danny remarked, grinning as he unlocked the doors, pulling the chain lock from the door handles. "I think it was supposed to be part of Axion Labs, at first, that's probably why you can see it from here. Whatever they were planning to do here obviously fell through, though." He said, shrugging his shoulders as he lead them inside. This one was also powered by a Fenton Generator, but was more sparse- there wasn't much inside but a ratted old couch and a couple of piles of books.

"Boy I'll say." Tucker noted, whistling as he saw all the space inside. "Do you have little secret places like this dotted all over the city, Danny?" He asked him, glancing over towards his friend. "It's like you're living a whole 'nother life and I'm just now hearing about this. When did you become so secretive anyways?"

"It's not really a secret." Danny said, shrugging his shoulders. "I just didn't really think I needed to tell you guys. I get bored at night, and I like to find places where I can do things without worry of keeping anyone up." He said, closing the doors behind him. "Anyways, this place is about the same size as the warehouse, and there's no columns for Sam to run into."

"I only did that one time!" Sam said, turning bright red. "Look, it's not easy to control your speed when you're flying."

"It's a good thing I snapped a picture of that! I think it's going to be my new wallpaper!" Tucker said, grinning from ear to ear- then yelping a little when Sam glowered at him, trying to charge at him to take his phone from him. Danny snorted, laughing as Sam caught up to him, and quickly erased the photograph in question, but not before sending her friend a long look, silently warning him to delete any and all backups that he might have.

"So how's handling the ghost stuff going since yesterday?" Danny asked her, flopping over on the couch. Usually he would be at home, asleep by now- if this schedule kept up, it was going to do murder on his body. Good thing he had a lot of stamina, he guessed.

"Better. I think I'm sort of starting to get a bit of a grip on it." Sam said. "I still have a lot of work to do, but I think I'll manage. I haven't managed to blow it yet, so that's always a good thing. Your parents still in the dark?" She asked, glancing over at Danny.

"Very much so." He said. "Oh, that reminds me actually!" He said, quickly springing to his feet and going for his bag. "I have come bearing gifts!" Pulling open his bag, he tossed Sam what appeared to be a thermos, although one far more high tech.

"Oh yeah, I guess being able to take soup with me while hunting ghosts might come in handy." Sam observed, shaking the thermos in her hands.

"Oh shut up, it's the Fenton Thermos." Danny said, rolling his eyes. "It catches ghosts, not stores soup. Although I suppose it could do that too, if you like your soup with a hint of ectoplasm in it."

"Delicious and nutritious!" Tucker quipped. "You got any gifts for me, Santa?" He asked, grinning as he held out his hands.

"Ah yes, for the technogeek who has everything, I give you this!" Danny said, before tossing him something the boy did recognize- one of his family's ecto-guns. "You should probably take the chance to practice with it."

"Sweet, now I'm officially armed and dangerous!" Tucker said, spinning the ecto-gun, letting out a small yelp when he accidentally fired a blast, frying a hole in the couch. At the joint glowers he got from Sam and Danny, he laughed a little nervously, lowering the ecto-gun. "Right, practice. Makes perfect, right?"

"Well don't aim that thing at me." Sam observed- opening her mouth to make a tart reply, but quickly went silent a shudder running through her spine and a hint of mist seemed to escape from her mouth.

"What was-?" Danny began- and then he caught a whiff of ectoplasm. "Ghosts?" He asked, glancing around.

"Ghosts." Sam agreed, and in flash of white light, she turned into her ghost form, pausing only for a moment to be pleased that she had done it so instinctively on command. The trio all tensed up, expecting something horrible to come out of nowhere, when their attention was drawn to a sharp bark.

And Tucker laughed.

"It's a cute little puppy!" He said, laughing as he laid eyes on the glowing green dog. It very much appeared to be a little puppy, almost normal save for it's odd coloration and the ghostly glow it bore.

"It is kind of cute!" Phantasma remarked, her tension levels dropping as she knelled down, making cooing noises at it. "Come here little baby, come to Sa- I mean, Phantasma."

"I thought you were a cat person?" Danny observed, fixing his eyes on the little ghost puppy as it ran up to Phantasma, all but leaping into her arms, showering her with kisses. It's entire butt wagged alongside it's tail, a wonder seeing as it's tail was really just a bit of flames gathering at the end.

"Puppies are cute!" Phantasma remarked, scratching it under the chin, before setting it back down. "Well this little guy doesn't look like he could harm a flea. I don't think this is one ghost we have to worry about."

Of course, as if it sensed this was it's cue, the little ghost puppy finally took notice of Danny, and it's tail suddenly stopped wagging. Internally, Danny groaned, realizing what was going on here- apparently, it being dead didn't do much to stop it from wanting to challenge the other 'canine' it sensed nearby. The ghost puppy let out a low growl, and Danny rubbed his forehead, wondering what he was going to do about this one.

And that's when the puppy transformed.

"Oh you have _got _to be kidding me." Danny mumbled, watching as the once tiny puppy turned into a huge, hulking dog, twice the size of any real dog, though not quite the size of Danny's own wolf form, it's growl now much more menacing. Phantasma and Tucker both let out yelps, jumping back to make a bit of distance- at least as big as it was, the dog still looked undeniably like a dog, so it only served to make Phantasma slightly nervous. What was bad however, was that Danny felt the instinctive reaction to return the ghost dog's challenge, and had to bite down on his tongue to keep himself from growling right back at the dog.

"I-I don't think he likes you Danny." Tucker stammered, now backing up quite a bit from the ghost dog, holding his ecto-gun shakily.

And then with a loud bark, the dog lunged at Danny. The werewolf boy quickly avoided it, swearing underneath his breath as he sprinted away from it. Normally, he would just transform here and put an end to it- but obviously with both Sam and Tucker around, that wasn't an option. Besides, could he even get a hit in on a ghost? Somehow, Danny didn't think so.

Maybe he would be able to convince his mother to make something for him that let him.

"Hey, hold it!" Phantasma cried out, grabbing the Fenton Thermos, flying after the dog. She was a little surprised at how fast Danny was- maybe he should try out for the track team, but right now that was the least of her worries. Grunting a little, she tried and failed to replicate yesterday's success at firing a blast from her hand, swearing underneath her breath as she decided to change tactics.

By throwing the Fenton Thermos at it.

Well, that seemed to get it's attention at least, and the large dog turned back around, now growling at Phantasma. Realizing she had just thrown away her only method of capturing it, Phantasma wore, flying upwards as the dog flew after her- of course it could fly too, why did she ever think that it couldn't fly. Bracing herself for impact as it thrashed it's teeth at her, she suddenly recalled she could turn intangible, and did so, the giant ghost dog sailing harmlessly through her.

"Sam!" Danny called out, having raced over to where the Thermos was, snatched it up and threw it towards her. "Catch!"

"Thank you!" Phantasma called back, grabbing the Thermos, and opened it up, pointing it towards the ghost dog and-

Nothing.

"It doesn't even work!" Sam cried.

"Have you tried charging it?" Tucker called out, and quickly turned pale when this alerted the ghost dog to his presence, and he now found it racing towards him. "I didn't mean you!" He cried out, firing his ecto-gun in a blind panic. Luck was with him this time, as it impacted with the dog's shoulder, causing it to slow down.

"Charging it with what!?" Phantasma retorted, though she shut her mouth when she saw the ghost dog now racing after Tucker. "Here goes nothing, I guess." She grumbled, trying to concentrate her own energy on the dog- and to her great surprise, the Fenton Thermos flared to life, quickly sucking the ghost dog inside of it. Tucker, meanwhile, let out a breathe of relief, slumping down on the ground, as Phantasma quickly capped the Thermos, floating back down to meet the others.

"Well, I didn't see that coming." She said out loud, turning back into regular Sam Manson. "Dogs really don't like you, huh Danny?" She asked, glancing over towards her friend as he hurried to meet up with her, yelping a little when he seized her by the shoulders, frantically checking to make sure that she was alright. "I'm fine, Danny." She said gently, placing a hand on his own.

"I'm okay too in case anyone is wondering!" Tucker called out.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Danny let go her shoulders, relaxing a little. "Good." He said, then glanced over at Tucker. "Same to you as well! You need help getting to your feet?"

"No!" Tucker snapped, pulling himself up. "I just wasn't prepared for that, is all." He huffed, fixing his beret.

"Right." Danny observed, arching his eyebrows, taking the Thermos from Sam. "I'll run by home and put this little guy back in the Ghost Zone." He told her, before handing her the key to the place. "You should probably practice some more. And so should Tucker, I think."

"Right." Sam nodded her head. "I'd like to be able to know I can rely on those ecto-blast things or whatever with a little more consistency." She added.

"Probably a good idea." Danny laughed a little, kissing her on the lips, before rubbing her head, the latter of which she swatted him for. Grinning, he headed on, grabbing his bag and stuffing the Thermos back inside of it- and pausing to glower at Tucker as he made a kissy face at him. For his part, Tucker just spread his hands and grinned at him.

He _really _had to get that guy a girlfriend.

* * *

The moon was high in the night sky now, and as per usual, Danny found himself wandering outside. He had successfully taken the ghost bag back to the Ghost Zone, and had reunited with Tucker and Sam to find that her training had been going well- even if she hadn't been able to really shoot an ecto-blast again. She had been able to get some sparks of it going, but they had quickly fizzled out, much to her frustration. Still, she was convinced that the first time hadn't been a fluke, so she had decided to keep at it.

Vaguely, Danny wondered if he should consider sparring with Sam. He'd started doing it with his mother not long after his transformation into a werewolf, it helped him learn how to limit his abilities. He would bring that up the next time that they saw each other, he thought.

Speaking of his parents, he had to turn down an offer from them to come with them to Wisconsin. Recalling that there was another werewolf clan in the nearby area, Danny had to turn his father's offer down, not wanting to get involved in a territory dispute. Something about a college reunion at the home of one of his father's old buddies, which his father had been ecstatic about. Apparently, he had a falling out with the friend in question, and took this as a sign that the man was finally starting to forgive him. That made Danny feel a bit guilty, especially as his father decided that if Danny wasn't going, then he wouldn't be going either, not wanting to leave his son out of a family trip.

Well, hopefully this Vlad Masters person was understanding.

The werewolf boy stopped in his tracks however, as a scent that was now growing increasingly familiar to him caught his nose. Ectoplasm... and metal? Frowning, he trained his ears, whirling to face the ghost as it manifested itself seemingly out of the shadows- or rather, just turned visible. So tracking ghosts by their scent even when invisible was apparently a thing he could do, that was good to know.

"Well, well. Imagine this!" The ghost declared, seemingly pleased with himself. For all intents and purposes, it looked more like a robot than a ghost, and gave off a strong metallic odor, one that almost overpowered the scent of ectoplasm clinging to it. "My first time traversing in the human realm in recent years, and I cross paths with a werewolf! I have been meaning to extend my pelt collection to other supernatural entities."

"Yo, sorry to burst your bubble, but I gotta say I'm not really all that interested in being a pelt on anyone's wall." Danny said, taking a step back. Ah geez, two ghosts gunning for him in one day? Was this going to be a regular occurrence?

"You say that as if you have a choice, youngling!" The ghost laughed, thinking his words a grand jest. "But seriously, you don't have any choice in the matter." It said, sounding far more serious now. "None have ever escaped from Skulker, Ghost Zone's greatest hunter!"

"As much as I hate to break your record, but I think I'm not really interested in being your latest conquest so..." Danny began, and then paused. "So wait, Skulker, was it? Are you like a ghost robot or something?"

"Of course not!" Skulker laughed. "Did you think a robot could create a ghost, youngling? This is a battle suit of my own design! ...Why do you seem so happy about that?"

"Because that probably means that I can punch you." Danny said, grinning a little. Not waiting for the battle suit clad ghost to react, the werewolf boy quickly rushed it, before launching a kick towards it's torso, fiercely grinning when it connected, sending the ghost hurtling down the street.

"That wasn't even a punch!" Skulker called out, and there was a humming sound as he began to charge up a weapon of some sort- and sure enough, out popped a huge gun from one of his arms. Knowing better than to stick around and find out what that was, Danny decided that this was his chance to hightail it out of here, making full use of his enhanced speed. Although he could hear the ghost trailing after him- with some kind of jet pack from the sound of it- why would a ghost even _need _a jet pack- there was still distance between them yet.

And he wanted to get to a place that was a little more secluded.

He had considered calling Sam, but seeing as this hunter ghost had correctly identified him as a werewolf, that was not a chance he wanted to take. Besides, for all he knew, a half ghost might be on the hunter's list of pelts he wanted to add to his wall. After all, how many half ghosts could there possibly be? For all he knew, Sam was totally unique and like hell was he going to send a ghost gunning after her, even if he did know that she could handle herself.

As they headed towards the forest, and left the view of regular buildings, Danny grinned, willing the transformation to come over him, and transformed into a wolf in mid-run, before coming to a halt, turning to face Skulker. The ghost in turned charged up the gun he had pulled out, firing it at the werewolf, which he dodged. Rushing towards the ghost, the wolf let out a howl, which echoed through the woods. Skulker turned intangible, narrowly avoiding the swipe of a massive paw, before sending off a series of mini-rockets fired from his shoulder armor.

These the wolf avoided, catching one in his teeth and crunching down on it before he spat it back out. Giving what appeared for all the world to be a grin, he swiped at the ghost with a massive paw, which hit this time, knocking him back into a nearby tree. However, as the wolf was about to move in, the fight was suddenly broken up in a burst, as one very familiar looking ghost dog burst on the scene, lunging towards the wolf. Caught by surprise- and what's more, surprise that the ghost could actually touch him, the ghost dog's teeth sunk into his shoulder, causing the wolf to let out a howl of pain.

And then the worst thing happened.

Then Sam arrived.

She was flying after the ghost dog, carrying the Fenton Thermos that had been returned to her in one hand, but came to a screeching halt once she arrived, what color there was draining from her pale face. Her eyes, glowing a strange gold green in ghost form, fell on the wolf before her- the massive, impossibly large black and white wolf, and all at once, her transformation came undone, leading to a very human Sam crashing into the ground.

It would have been better if Skulker wasn't there. Although the wolf was able to force the ghost dog off him- apparently he could touch it, contrary to his earlier belief, which would have been nice to know if he didn't have other things on his mind- namely, that Skulker's attention had now turned on Sam.

Who was petrified.

"A halfa!" Skulker proclaimed, seemingly having forgotten about his werewolf prey in the interest of something far more interesting. It barely registered in Danny's mind at the moment that there was apparently a name for what Sam was, which would perhaps indicate that she was not as alone as he had thought she was.

And Sam couldn't move.

She was shaking, trembling even, her eyes transfixed on the impossible sight before her- one no doubt she hoped was very impossible. Her logical mind screamed at her to move, alerting her of the dual ghostly presence in the vicinity, to transform back, to do something other than sit there frozen in place, but she didn't hear it, couldn't respond to it's cries. The fear that she held within her rose up to claim her, enveloping her in it's iron grip as the wolf moved, it's golden eyes looking at her.

"No..." Sam said slowly, movement coming back to her in a rush. "Don't come near me!" She cried, not noticing that the wolf seemed to flinch at her words. In a burst of white light, she found herself having transformed again, and acting on pure instinct, she sent the ectoplasmic blast that she hadn't been able to replicate before hurtling towards the wolf.

He couldn't dodge it, in such a state of shock at Sam's reaction, at her cries, that he couldn't even react. The blast struck him straight on, sending him flying backwards, unfortunately down a hill. Although his claws grasped at the ground to try and cease his momentum, Danny quickly found himself tumbling down the hill. Upon coming to a stop only when hitting against a rather large rock, his own werewolf transformation came undone, thankfully, out of view of any of the other parties. Groaning as pain racked through his body, he forced himself to his feet, glad at least that he was in one piece, and that his healing seemed to be working fine.

Except for the fact that the ghost dog was now baring down on him again. Swearing underneath his breath, Danny forced the pain aside and tensed avoiding the ghost dog's lunge by flipping over it. As he landed however, the ghost dog turned around, grabbing him by the ankle- okay, so apparently, ghost dogs had sharp teeth as well, and Danny found himself hurled into the nearest wall.

Wait, wall?

Suddenly recalling exactly what was near here, he turned and glanced up, this confirming his fear.

Axiom Labs.

Somehow, he didn't think this would end well.

Not having time to dwell on that though, a quick glance around told him that he was in a dead spot for security cameras, so once again, he transformed back into a wolf. At least this gave him the size advantage over the ghost dog- he had to deal with it before he could even think about helping Phantasma. Almost as if on cue then, he found the ghost girl being hurtled through the wall past him, crashing inside- and Danny didn't have long to think about this, because the next thing he knew, the ghost dog had pounced on him in turn, turning them both intangible as he lunged through the wall.

The scene inside was chaos, needless to say. The Axiom Lab employees had not reacted well to the ghost girl being thrown into their lab- at least Sam had kept her transformation, Danny noted on some level. But when two extremely large canines passed through the wall as well, one that resembled a very large wolf kicking the glowing, green dog away from it, there was outright panic. Sirens were going off everywhere, ringing in Danny's ears, breaking up his ability to think straight. They had triggered some kind of internal security system, and in the chaos, the ghost dog had changed it's targets again, this time lunging after Phantasma.

It was perhaps good luck that Phantasma at first missed the massive wolf, only spotting the ghost dog as it ran towards her. Wanting to eliminate at least one factor from this fight, Sam whipped out the Fenton Thermos, sucking it back inside, heaving a sigh as she did so. Just as she managed to catch a break, however, a net snagged her up, pulling her into the air- and that was when she did notice the massive wolf, now several feet below her.

Of all the rumors to be true, it had to be this one.

There was no way that thing wasn't some kind of werewolf.

She had to get out of here, she thought, forcing herself to stay in control of her fear, to not let it overwhelm her like earlier, and she turned intangible, freeing herself from the net. Her body throbbed from the blast that had sent her in here, a farewell gift from the strange, robot like ghost that had been fighting the werewolf before she had arrived. She'd managed to get it in the Fenton Thermos too, but not before it had done some damage, apparently. Maybe this superhero thing wasn't that great of an idea, she couldn't help but think in the back of her mind.

"Stay away from me, I'm warning you!" Phantasma stammered, trying to fly as high as possible, attempting to look menacing. Didn't these things smell fear? And Phantasma was very, very afraid.

Danny couldn't focus, the sound of the sirens blaring in his overly sensitive ears. He registered that the ghost dog had been caught, and that Phantasma had freed herself, and barely registered that the lab was now a mess. He could barely make out the sounds of footsteps approaching them in a rush- guards it must have been, and he was vaguely aware that if he were caught here, the results would have been terrible. If he transformed back into a human here, the results would have also been terrible. Letting out a massive howl, he could hear the oncoming footsteps skid to a start- but he could also see Phantasma shudder and flinch, as he only served to make her more afraid of him.

Of she was afraid of him. He'd known all along that this would happen.

It hurt.

And not just the physical pain, either. He knew that he was bleeding, though he knew that it would heal in short order- it still didn't dismiss the fact that it hurt now.

But the emotional pain was probably worse.

The best thing he could do for Sam now was to get out of here as fast as possible. Crouching down low on all fours, he turned away from Phantasma, who was still floating high in the air, barely hearing her sigh of relief as he took off in the other direction. Whatever the awaiting security guards were expecting in the main lab, it probably was not a massive wolf, and they barely jumped out of the way in time to avoid him. As he dashed past them, most of them too shaken to even pick up their guns, his eyes caught sight of a familiar face- and recalled in a sinking feeling why Axiom Labs had always sounded as if it should remind him of something.

Valerie's father worked here.

Which didn't entirely explain why Valerie was here right now, currently being pressed to the wall by her father in an effort by the man to see that his daughter did not fall to harm. He didn't have much time to dwell on it, as the man ordered his men to open fire. The wolf outpaced most of them, but he could feel a few hitting his backside- although they weren't much pain compared to the ecto-blast from earlier.

His memories of his exact escaped blurred, only recalling that he had transformed back into a human only once safely in the forest, and had collapsed. That damn ringing was out of his ears now, and he managed to pick himself up, pulling the hood up on his hoodie, and hurried back home, where he headed straight to his room and fell into the oblivion of sleep.

* * *

Probably the only good thing about his parent's tirade that morning was learning that Sam had gotten away without anyone seeing her in person. She had been caught, apparently, on security camera, along with the ghost dog- and Danny's wolf form. And that was what his parents were so angry about, it seemed.

On one hand, Phantasma and the ghost dog were the proof that they both had been waiting for, and that seemed to color their early morning lecture. On the other hand, the Amity Park werewolf was now more than just a vague rumor- and that was bad.

To be honest, Danny just wanted to sink into a hole- all he could was just keeping replaying Sam's words from the night before. She hadn't known it was him, of course, but would it have even made a difference? He had frightened her so badly, and that was the last thing he had ever wanted to do. Someone as strong as Sam just completely breaking down like that... and he had caused it. He didn't know what to do with these feelings, and didn't know how to express them. He could talk it over with Jazz later, but as of yet he hadn't gotten a chance to do so.

"Danny, honey, if there were ghosts about, you should have called us." Maddie finally said with a deep sigh, resting a hand on her son's shoulder. There was still a dull, throbbing pain in it from the bite he'd gotten the night before, but the actual injury itself had vanished overnight. All of the physical traces of his injuries were gone- but the pain seemed as if it was planning to linger for awhile longer."Now that the people of Amity Park know that there's this massive wolf lurking around, they're going to be looking out for anything strange."

"I know." Danny said, finally heaving a sigh. "I know that much. I'm sorry mom. Things got out of hand. It's just... only one of them was really after me." He added quickly. "The ghost dog one. The girl one was after the ghost dog and things got messy from there and... look, I'm just sorry, okay?"

Maddie frowned, glancing over at her husband, who could only shrug his shoulders. "Alright, Danny." His mother said finally, removing her hand from her son's shoulder. "You know it's just because we're worried about you. If people find out you're a werewolf, we won't be able to stay here anymore, you know that right?"

"I know, I know, you don't need to remind me. I don't intend to let anyone find out." He told them, giving them his best smile. There was no way he could let them know what was worrying him when it would give away Sam's secret, so he at least had to put on a good face for them.

To be honest, he was dreading seeing Sam today.

"But think about it Maddie!" Jack said. "Two ghosts were spotted! They are real! Just wait until I can rub it in everyone's face!"

"Now Jack, that would be rude." Maddie said, turning her attention towards her husband. She glanced briefly back at Danny then, giving him as small smile. "You should go get ready for school, Danny. Try to keep a low profile today though, just in case, alright?"

"You can count on it." Danny said, getting to his feet. Somehow, he made it up to Jazz's room instead of his own, and knocked lightly on her door. His sister answered it, and took a long look at her brother's downcast face, and didn't need to be told to know what was going through his mind.

"She's really afraid of me after all." He said, giving his sister a bitter laugh. "Jazz- what am I supposed to do?"

Not quite having an answer for him at the moment, the only thing she could think to do was wrap her little brother in a tight embrace. "It'll be okay Danny. You'll see. I promise."


	5. Burdensome Secrets

Author's Note: Chapter Five is here, and it brings us everyone's favorite half ghost billionaire. I don't have much else to say here, but thanks you guys for always reading and reviewing! I know I say it a lot, but you all really are _the _best.

Danny Phantom does not belong to me.

* * *

Wolf Boy x Ghost Girl

Chapter Five: Burdensome Secrets

* * *

There were few times when going to school invoked such a feeling of outright dread in Danny. he wasn't tired for once, having collapsed into slumber long before he usually did due to the injuries he had taken from last night. He'd taken a chance to look over what remained in the shower that morning, and noted that aside from a few bruises, there wasn't much to report. At the very least, he would have no traces of last night's mayhem that could be connected back to him.

Still, he knew he had to go. He was Sam's boyfriend, and he had a responsibility to make sure that she was alright after last night. He was more than a little worried that he hadn't gotten any phone calls while he was passed out. He didn't like being left in the dark, even if it was only for a short period of time.

No doubt the halls would be buzzing with gossip that day. The ghosts were one thing, but the Amity Park Werewolf was a whole different beast. Long rumored, he knew that the images from last night would convince many people that he was real- which, of course, he was, but he was better off when it was just a rumor. His parents were right, he was going to have to try and keep a low profile for awhile- no doubt everyone would be looking for who the possible werewolf would be, and he didn't want anyone connecting it to him.

At least no one would be looking for the ghost girl's true identity. Nobody else would even _consider _the chance of her only being half ghost.

As Casper High loomed in front of him, Danny frowned, already spotting the students chatting outside, their words starting to drift towards his sensitive ears. He could only catch snippets at this distance, but what he heard was enough to confirm his fears. 'Ghosts!', 'Werewolves!' and the ilk were said more times than he cared to hear.

He wondered if anyone would look at him funny. He wasn't a complete idiot, he knew that the student who went from being a total zero in gym class in middle school to someone who the track team was constantly chasing after would be pretty high on the list of suspects. But if he just acted natural, probably everything would be okay. High school students didn't exactly have long memories, after all- most of them, at least.

He just hoped Sam and Tucker wouldn't make the connection. He cringed a little, realizing that they already knew about his healing abilities, and putting that together with various other facts might just lead them to the conclusion he didn't want them to find. The fact that neither of his friends were waiting for him on the steps of the school wasn't exactly very encouraging. On the other hand, they might just not realize that he was coming to class on time that morning.

Heaving a sigh, he adjusted the strap on his backpack before he headed into Casper High. He kept himself rather alert, listening for anyone muttering anything under their breath as he passed them by, but it seemed as if nobody was really paying any attention to him. Good, at least it seemed that no rumors he really didn't care to hear were spreading just yet.

And where the hell were Tucker and Sam anyways? They weren't at their lockers, he noticed, putting away his backpack and taking out his books for first period. A quick sniff of the air did tell him that they were here- he caught their scents well enough. Frowning a little, he shut his locker, following after the scent as discretely as possible.

Oh thank the Moon, there they were.

"Sam! Tucker!" Danny called out, waving over at them, catching them just as they were about to enter their homeroom. They looked a little surprised to see him, but to his relief, that was just about it. "I saw the newspaper this morning. Why didn't anyone try to call me last night?"

"Hey, I didn't know about it until this morning either, dude." Tucker lifted his hands, and Danny was grateful to see that he was acting more or less normal.

"Yeah, sorry." Sam said after a moment. "I pretty much just passed out as soon as I got home. On that note, I've got uh," she dropped her voice then, her eyes glancing back towards the direction of her locker. "Two more for the Ghost Portal." She told him.

"Two?" Danny asked, quirking an eyebrow, playing dumb. "I thought there was only one in the paper."

"There were two. One was the ghost dog, and the other was some kind of weird robot ghost. It said something about wanting to keep me in a cage." She said, crinkling her nose. "I would be having none of that, thank you very much."

"Huh." Danny frowned. Wait, so it wanted Sam as a caged animal, and him as a pelt? What a difference in treatment, he thought to himself. "Well, I'm glad you're alright Sam- especially since I also saw the _other _thing in the newspaper." He told her, having to fight to keep his conflicting emotions from showing on his face. Whatever he did, he would have to be careful not to give himself away, since they didn't seem to suspect him.

Sam cringed, suppressing a shudder, moving them out of the way of the doorway as they talked. "I know." She said, taking in and letting out a deep breath. "I dealt with it as best I could though." She said, giving him a small smile. "I actually managed to fire another ectoblast at it, knocked it clear away from me. If it's out there, I can fight it at least, so that's always good news. Plus flying's nice- I don't think it can fly."

"I still can't believe it's _real_." Tucker almost whispered. "Do you know what this means though? If ghosts and uh... canines of unusually large size," he said, eyes darting towards Sam as he spoke, avoiding using a word that might trigger her. "...then imagine what else could be real. Like, vampires and zombies and stuff."

Danny had to bite his tongue, forcing back a comment that they were in fact, real. Ghosts were just the tip of the iceberg, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to expose his friends to the other side of the world just yet- or ever. It wasn't the sort of place you just carelessly dragged people into, after all. "Yeah, who knows?" Danny shrugged his shoulder, trying to not let his hurt feelings show on his face. Sam thought he was a threat to her, that he might hurt her... even if she didn't know it was him. He _really _didn't want to find out of that knowledge would change her opinion any or not.

"You okay dude?" Tucker asked, seeming to pick up on something. "You look kind of out of it. Did you have a rough night yourself?"

"Oh, you could say that." Danny raised his brows. "Not really anything worry about though, not compared to Sam's night, at least." He shrugged his shoulders, before putting a hand on her shoulder, pulling her close to him. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there to help, Sam. Try calling me next time." He told her, lowering his head down to hers, bringing her close enough so that their foreheads touched.

Of course, he couldn't be there to help, not if the 'Amity Park Werewolf' was involved, but the sentiment and the desire was there at least. He never wanted Sam to start thinking of him as an enemy or something to be afraid of, and hopefully he'd be able to eventually show her that as his other self too- since he doubted last night would be the last time they would meet like that.

"I know. I'm sorry. I got caught up in the moment, and then there really wasn't any time to call." Sam said, smiling at him, standing on her toes a bit to give him a quick kiss. "We've got to get to homeroom now, Danny. We'll talk more later. I'm fine, by the way, I know you're worried."

"Good." Danny grinned at her, letting her go. "Catch you later too, Tuck. Ah, by the way, have you talked to Valerie yet?" He asked. "Isn't Axiom Labs where her dad works or something?"

"Yeah." Tucker cringed. "You didn't hear the news about that, huh?"

"No." Danny shook his head, blinking. The students had been so abuzz about ghosts and werewolves that he hadn't picked up anything else. "What happened?"

"Valerie's dad got fired." Tucker told him. "Apparently, he promised Axiom Labs a security system that could stop anything and well... he didn't exactly deliver. He has to pay for repairs to the lab as well."

"What?!" Danny almost spat out, his voice a bit louder than he intended. "Are you kidding me? Who in their right mind would even think to build a security system that defends against ghosts and werewolves?" He asked.

"I'm just as lost as you, dude." Tucker shook her head. "Anyways, I was planning to stop by Valerie's house after school and loan them a hand. They going to have to sell their house, and they're already moving into a cheap apartment over in Elmerton." He told him. "I thought I could give her a hand with the moving. You want to come too, Danny? You're a pretty strong guy."

"I'll have to pass." Danny said, cringing a little. He wasn't exactly in a hurry to deal with Valerie again- especially not since the trashed lab was mostly his own fault. Well, and the ghost dog's, but there was nothing that he could do about _that_. Still, he did feel bad, even if Valerie wasn't exactly that high up on his list of favorite people. He would have to try and do _something _to make it up to her.

"Suit yourself." Tucker shrugged his shoulders. "I'll see you later too, Danny."

With that, his friend ducked into his homeroom class, and only then did Danny finally feel some of the tension wash out of his body. They hadn't suspected a thing, and that came as a huge relief to him. He had better get to his own homeroom, though, noticing that more or less all the other students had gone into their own classrooms. Making his way down the hallway to his classroom, he still kept his ears open for any stray words of chatter coming from open classroom doors.

And that's when he smelled the lingering scent of her perfume.

"_Spectra_." Danny said, a low growl to his voice, now that the hallway was more or less empty. He glanced back at her, turning around to look at her. "I don't have time for you, I have to get to class."

"I'll write you a late pass." The ghost therapist said easily. "You seem distressed. Your little girlfriend scared of the big bad Amity Park Werewolf?" She asked, keeping her voice low as she closed the distance between them. The hallways was all but empty now, probably the reason why she had chosen to approach him out in the open. Of course, it also meant that Danny couldn't even do anything to her, and he knew that she knew that too.

"I don't see why that's _any _of your concern." Danny told her, trying to keep his voice as normal as possible. "Do you want something from me, Spectra?"

"I just wanted to talk, that's all." She said simply, resting a hand on her shoulder. For a brief moment, a cold chill ran down his spine and he jerked away from her, glaring at her. "Oh, scary eyes." She observed, smirking a little. "Shouldn't you be trying to keep a low profile, little wolf?" She asked. "You know, I could just give you away here and now if I wanted to- it wouldn't be a problem for me to find another school that would be thrilled to have someone as accomplished as I am. But you? You'll have to do a lot of running to get away from people who would want their hands on you."

"But I won't do that." She said after a moment. "Your despair and doubt are particularly potent, after all."

"You had just better keep your word." Danny said sourly. "Like I said, I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now." He told her, hearing the homeroom bell ring overhead. Great, he was here on time for once, and now he was going to be late anyways. "I don't know what it is that you want, or you plan to do here, but keep my friends and family out of it."

"Of course." Spectra said, smiling placidly at him. "And Danny?"

"What?" He almost growled at her again, not wanting to put up with her for even a second longer.

"Your late pass." She said, smirking a little as she handed the slip of paper over to him. He gave her a long look, before snatching it from her hand, heading back down the hall. The ghost therapist watched him go, a dim glow in her eyes, hidden by her shades, smirking a little.

Of course, she had only promised to keep his friends and family alone- he had said nothing at all about _himself_.

* * *

At the very least, school had flown by, and aside from nobody shutting up about ghosts and werewolves, the day had mostly gone in a normal fashion. Nobody looked at him or Sam oddly, and nobody whispered anything underneath their breaths as they passed, which was all to the good. They had been able to catch up at lunch and chat about what they planned to do next. They all had agreed that they would have to take extra care to make sure that nobody had any cause to suspect that Phantasma was anything but a ghost, and that they would have to start thinking about any possible scenarios in which Sam might get exposed should this thing go any further, and how to deal with them and avoid them.

Sam and Tucker both agreed that they should also keep a lookout for whoever might be the Amity Park Werewolf, and Danny had no choice but to agree with them, knowing that they would think it odd if the decision wasn't unanimous.

When Danny had brought up the idea of sparring with Sam in order to keep her in fighting shape, she was more than a little skeptical, and he couldn't blame her. After all, in middle school, he had just been the clumsy kid who got pushed around all the time, and he hadn't completely shed that image yet, it seemed. Thankfully, it seemed that his friends simply assumed that puberty had worked wonders for him, and Danny was just fine with that.

"So Tucker's helping Valerie move?" Sam asked, following behind Danny as he lead her to the first hideout he had shown them. He had taken some extra time that morning to make a new entrance, tearing the back door off it's hinges and then settling it back down so that it looked like it wasn't broken at all.

"Yeah. I think he's trying to earn some brownie points with her." Danny laughed a little. "Well, I hope it goes well, in all honesty. I think he gets annoyed sometimes, having to act as the third wheel. I don't blame him, to be honest."

"Yeah, well, somehow I doubt the A List is going to do much to help Valerie move." Sam noted, raising her brows. "They seem pretty shallow. Now that Valerie's father is deep in debt, they very well might not want to hang out with her anymore. I do feel bad about it though. It's kind of my fault, in a way."

"I think it's more the fault of the ghost dog and the unusually large canine." Danny pointed out. "You shouldn't blame yourself for it Sam, is all that I'm saying." He told her, pulling the door back, grinning at her. "After you, milady."

"Is there where I'm supposed to make a rant about chivalry and how I can open my own doors?" Sam noted, grinning a little as she stepped through. "Thank you kindly, though. So that's how you got in here in the first place. I'm surprised nobody has ever noticed that door was loose before."

"You would be surprised at what things people don't notice around here." Danny said, grinning a little, pulling it back into place behind him. "Anyways, are you sure you're alright, Sam?" He asked her again, watching as she made her way to where he had set up the bean bag chairs, tossing her stuff on one, before turning back to him.

"A little sore and a little shaken." She told him. "But I'll recover. I'm actually surprised, turns out being half ghost means that I heal really well." She told him, them quirked an eyebrow. "Speaking of healing, I'm still mad about you keeping that a secret in the first place. I've been so caught up in all this ghost business that I haven't been able to properly talk to you about it though."

Danny winced a little- this was exactly the kind of topic he didn't want to discuss right now. "I'm sorry." He said meekly, tossing his own bag aside. "Why don't we get started, and you can vent all of your frustrations that way. I'm sorry though Sam, you're right, I should have told you and Tucker about it. It was just that my parents were very insistent about not saying anything- I don't think they want me to wind up on a lab table or something. And... honestly I don't want to think about it too much either. I'm not sure I want to know the _why _of it."

"Well, if one of your parents inventions can turn me half ghost, I'm not too surprised if something your parents did caused other weird effects." Sam frowned a little. Taking in a deep breath, she called on the coldness within her, feeling herself transform into Phantasma. That, at least, was getting rather easy. "Anyways, are you sure about this? You know I placed pretty high in the Presidential Fitness Exam, right?"

"I'm sure." Danny nodded his head. "Mom and I do this sometimes, at least since I got out of the hospital." He told her, rolling his eyes. "Sure would have liked the ability to heal quickly back then." He lied, taking a few steps back, away from the seating area and into and open space. "Trust me, mom's a ninth degree black belt. I think I can handle you."

"Is that a challenge I hear, Fenton?" Phantasma asked, quirking a brow. "I'm going to make you eat those words."

"Well to that, all I have to say is _bon appetit_, Miss Manson." Danny grinned, motioning with two fingers for her to have at him.

"You are just a real glutton for punishment aren't you?" Phantasma asked, grounding herself. Cracking her knuckles, she grinned, before rushing towards him. It would seem that being a ghost made her faster than she had been before, but not that fast- he was probably still faster, he noted, ducking underneath the high kick that she swung towards his head.

"Going right for the killing blow, that's my charming girlfriend all right." Danny grinned, moving to sweep her off her feet. She yelped a little, perhaps not expecting the speed of his response. Though instead of hitting the ground, she floated in place, taking a moment to make a note of this.

"That's a neat trick." She remarked, grinning a little as she flew some distance away from Danny, landing on the ground again. "You know, you really should try out for the track team, Danny. I bet they would snatch you up in a heartbeat."

"Ugh, don't remind me." Danny grumbled, frowning a little. "Miss Testlaff has been on my case since she took my running time last year." Shifting back and forth on one foot, he made a move on Phantasma this time, remembering to keep his speed in check to something that she could both manage and wasn't suspicious. "No thanks, pass." He said, attempting to duck inside her guard with a light palm to her stomach.

Which passed harmlessly through her torso, something which caused the ghost girl to grin triumphantly. "Didn't expect that, did you? I bet that's one trick your mother doesn't know." She proclaimed.

"No, I can say that much for sure." Danny said, waving his hand up and down a bit. "It's kind of tingly." He observed. "But, using ghost powers is cheating!"

"Nope!" Phantasma shook her head, grinning still. "After all, I'm going to be fighting ghosts from now on. I've got to learn how to use these crazy powers. Using ghost powers is not cheating, objection overruled!"

"Oh, on what grounds?" Danny asked.

"Girlfriend grounds!" Phantasma said, before grabbing Danny's hand and with a small grunt, bending over backwards and taking him with her. He let out a yelp, seeing stars as his head hit the floor. "In other words, it means you not sleeping on the couch tonight."

"Okay, A, I don't sleep at night anymore, which is really annoying by the way." Danny grumbled, sitting up and rubbing his head. "And B, we don't even live together. Are you implying that I should just sleep on the couch of my own house?" He asked.

"Yes." Phantasma nodded her head. "That's exactly how it works, Danny, didn't you know?"

"No, I must have missed that memo." He rolled his eyes, getting to his feet- then paused. "Oh, hold on Sam, phone's ringing. I'll get right back to you." He told her, hurrying to catch his cell phone before they hang up. "Hello?"

"Oh, hey mom. No, just hanging out with Sam." Danny told her, pointing to the phone and silently mouthing the words 'it's my mother' to Phantasma. "Uh, you need me to come home? Like, right now?" He asked, frowning a little. It didn't sound like anything was wrong, at least, which was reassuring. "No, no I can do that I think. It's no problem. Why do you need me to come home though? Oh, a surprise, huh." He snorted, shaking his head. "Well okay, if you say so. I'll catch you in a few minutes, mom."

Hanging up the phone, he shook his head, shoving it back into his backpack. "Looks like we'll have to catch up on sparring later Sam. Mom needs me home for whatever reason." He said, rolling his eyes. "We can pick up again some other time, but you're free to stay and train as long as you like. I don't think anyone will find you here."

"Looks like you wormed your way out of a butt kicking this time." Phantasma observed, smirking still. "But next time you won't be so lucky."

"I love you too, Sam." Danny rolled his eyes, slinging his backpack over his shoulders. "Remember, if anything happens, call me, okay?" He asked her, giving her a mock salute before he departed.

The fact that none of his worst fears had come to light was more than just a little reassuring, and it helped take some of the paranoia that he had held within him since last night away. As long as he just kept playing it cool, nobody would even notice a thing. He did still feel bad about lying to Sam and Tucker, but Sam's reaction last night had cemented his feelings about never telling her about this for as long as he lived. At least, not until she managed to do something with her phobia. Maybe then he would tell her, but he imagined that wasn't until a long ways off.

"Okay, that doesn't answer the sudden question I now have as to why there is a big fancy limo parked outside of my house." Danny noted, glancing over towards it, giving an awkward wave to the chauffeur who was waiting outside of it. Who the hell did his parents know that owned a limo? Or could afford to rent one for a casual visit, at any rate.

"Mom? Dad?" Danny asked, heading into the house, looking around with a frown. He knew they were home- he could smell them after all. Sure enough, there they were, sitting on the couch and sipping tea, exchanging words with a man Danny had never seen in his entire life.

He spent a few seconds fighting back a more primal urge, wondering why this person was intruding upon his territory, before he went over to join his parents. His gaze didn't really leave the strangers though, and made sure to memorize every little detail of him. He had gray hair, though he appeared to only be his parent's age, and had blue eyes, and a rather pronounced chin. Finely dressed in a black suit, the man practically oozed money.

But it was his scent that caught Danny's attention, and there was a familiar, faint smell to it that he couldn't place just yet- but it bothered him, and was enough to cause him unease. "Who's this?" He asked finally, glancing towards his father.

"This is the person I was telling you about the other day, Danny!" Jack declared, grinning from ear to ear. "You know, the one in Wisconsin that was going to throw the college reunion in his mansion!" He told him. "Vlad Masters, my old college pal and roommate. We got a long ways back, he and I!"

"I thought it was such a shame that you couldn't make it, so I came all the way out here to visit you all myself." Vlad spoke, standing up, a smile that Danny was ill at ease with on his face. "Like your father said, I'm Vlad Masters. I was friends with the both of them in college." He told Danny, offering him his hand to shake. "I heard that they had a son, so I was hoping to meet you. Daniel, was it?"

"Danny, actually." He corrected him, slowly taking Vlad's hand. It was cold, that was the first thing he noticed, though he tried to not let it show on his face. He shook his hand, noticing that the man had quite the grip- it was like he was actually trying to crush his bones in a death grip. Danny simply chose to return the favor, smiling placidly at Vlad as he let go, watching the man resist the urge to nurse his hand, a ripple on that otherwise perfectly controlled expression.

"Quite the grip your son has there." Vlad noted, sitting back down- next to his mother, Danny noticed. Somehow he didn't really like that one bit, and he couldn't decide if it was just his pack mentality talking, or perhaps something more.

"Yep! Takes right after his old man!" Jack proclaimed, grinning over at his friend. "Anyways, Danny, Vlad was going to invite all four of us to dinner! Down to that fancy steak place."

At the mention of steak, Danny perked up, almost drooling a little. He flushed red once he realized that he was, wiping it away with his sleeve. "Oh, uh, that sounds great. I am getting a little bit peckish." He observed, placing a hand over his stomach. "School lunches are never filling these days." He remarked. And perhaps spending more time around this Vlad character would tell him exactly what it was that he didn't like about him, and what it was about him that set him so very much on edge.

"Ah well, you are a growing boy after all." Vlad observed. "Besides, it's my treat. It's been so long since I've seen Jack and Maddie, not since the accident, in fact."

"Accident?" Danny asked, quirking a brow, looking over towards his father. "What accident?"

"It happened when we were in college." His father recalled solemnly. "Vlad, your mother, and I were working on a proto ghost Portal. Very small in scale, not like the big one that we have down in the basement now." He began. "It didn't work quite right, and instead it burst out a huge heap of green goo on Vlad and gave him the worst case of ecto-acne I had ever seen. I always thought you blamed me for it to be honest, Vlad, so I'm glad to see that you seem to have forgiven me."

"But of course!" Vlad said, smiling at him. "Let bygones be bygones, hm? It did give me a chance to chart out a course for my life, and thanks to you Jack, I'm now one of the richest men in America. It's the least I can do to take you and your lovely family out to dinner."

But Danny barely heard him, what his father told him still rooted deeply in his mind. An accident with a proto ghost portal? And that scent that he had clinging to him, that one that was faintly familiar- where was it that he had smelled this before? It had been recent, too, not something he had smelled in the distant past.

When he realized what it was, and where he knew it from, he had to keep himself from saying it out loud, actually biting down on his tongue. It was the same faint scent that clung to Sam ever since she had her own accident with the Fenton Ghost Portal, and had become half ghost. It was the faint scent of ectoplasm, that clung to her and mixed with her own, natural scent- and that's what he smelt here, on Vlad.

Was Vlad Masters half ghost too?

_Could _there be another one?

He didn't exactly want to jump to conclusions, and it wasn't like he could just ask. That would bring up all sorts of questions- namely where Danny had even gotten the idea of half ghosts being a thing from his parents and questions about how in the world he could even smell such a thing from Vlad, and neither were questions that he wanted to answer.

"Right, that sounds great." Danny said finally, laughing a little. He was going to have to keep an eye on this one, one way or another. He wondered if he should let Sam and Tucker know- but then again, it was still just a suspicion, and there could be another reason for the scent that he had detected. Maybe that ecto-acne thing his dad had mentioned was responsible for it? Besides, he would have a hard time explaining to them his reasons anyways, so he just decided to keep it to himself for the moment. If he needed to, he could tell them both later.

He just really didn't like the idea of leaving his parents alone with this creep, at any rate. There was something about the way he looked at his mother that put Danny off, and something about the way he seemed to glare at his father out of the corner of his eyes that he didn't like one bit either. He said he had forgiven his father for causing the 'ecto-acne' (whatever that was, somehow, Danny wasn't sure that he wanted to know), but Danny wasn't entirely convinced that was the case.

"Wonderful!" Maddie said, a bright smile on her face. "We'll be going to dinner in half an hour. Why don't you get cleaned up a little Danny? It's a bit of a fancy place, so maybe wear some of your nicer clothes. Speaking of that, I should probably freshen up a little too, I've been in the lab all day." She frowned, standing up. "Oh yes, and before I forget Danny, how was school?"

Danny knew it was a loaded question- his mother was silently asking him if anyone had put two and two together. "Great!" Danny grinned at her. "Oh, everyone was talking about what was in the papers, mostly. It got kind of tiring hearing about it after awhile, to be honest."

"Well, they're just excited, I'm sure it will all die down soon enough." Maddie reassured him, patting her son on the shoulder before she headed upstairs. "Jazz is on her way home too, so don't dally in getting changed, hon." She called out to him.

"Okay mom!" Danny called back, before turning back to Vlad. The man almost looked as if he expected him to leave, and Danny didn't like that one bit. He probably wouldn't have caught onto it if he had been normal, but being a werewolf had considerably improved his ability to read forms of non verbal communication- which was actually pretty handy, he had to admit. Once you got over the bad parts, there were plenty of things about being a werewolf that were super useful to him.

"So, while mom's changing, why don't you two tell me a little about your college days?" Danny asked, pulling up a chair and taking a seat, grinning over at Vlad, almost daring him to say something to shoo him away so he could be alone with his father, which clearly, was something that he wanted.

He could almost hear Vlad grumble underneath his breath when his father lit up at the prospect, and before Danny knew it, he was already babbling away, happy and excited to have a chance to blather on about his glory days. Danny didn't really listen to him, more or less tuning him out, making sure to keep a half gaze focused on Vlad and what he was doing. He got a feeling that it unnerved the man a bit, and also that the man didn't like this one bit- clearly this was not a guy who cared to be shown up by anyone, especially not someone younger than him.

When his mother came back downstairs, she fussed at him for not getting ready, and Danny just meekly apologized, waiting for her to join his father and Vlad again before he headed back upstairs. He couldn't help but notice the way Vlad's jaw seemed to drop when his mother enter the room, taking note of the rather nice casually fancy dress that she had put on. Danny just couldn't recall the last time that he had seen her outside of her jumpsuit, to be honest, he felt as if it must have been forever.

Heading into his room, Danny closed the door behind him, tossing aside his backpack onto his bed. He stepped briefly into the bathroom, splashing some cold water on his face and wiping it clean, before he headed back into his room, quickly changing into the dress shirt his mom had bought him awhile ago and the tie she had. He frowned a little as he pulled it up, not really liking the feeling of how it restricted around his neck, so he left it a little loose.

Well, whatever this guy was plotting, at least he was going to get free meat out of the deal. He had a sneaking suspicion that Vlad Masters wasn't nearly prepared for the amount of food that he could put away, and couldn't help but grin a little at the prospect. He would go all out tonight- after all, it _was_ his treat, wasn't it?

* * *

Vlad Masters did not exactly enjoy the look that he was getting from Jack and Maddie's son- there was something in his gaze that seemed almost to challenge him. That was not something he tolerated from anyone, least of all a fifteen year old boy. Oh, to be sure, he didn't think that this Daniel Fenton knew anything about him, or why he was here, but nevertheless, he made a note to take care of it at some point in the future. After all, if his plan succeeded, he would have to deal with him anyways. There was always shipping the brat off to boarding school, he supposed.

Oh, Vlad had come here with a purpose, and it was more than just hoping to take his old college friends and their family out to dinner. Forgiven Jack for the accident? Never. Not only had it caused him to waste the best years of his life, withering away in a hospital, but worst of all, he had stolen the love of his life, Maddie, away from him. And that, Vlad could not let stand.

So even if his accident with Jack's proto portal gave him ghost powers, which allowed him to do things beyond imagining, he hadn't forgiven the man one bit. And also long as Jack was here, he knew that he could never had Maddie- so he would just have to take care of him- _permanently_.

Then all he would have to do was play the sympathetic old friend to Maddie, and then _surely_, she would run into his arms. Her children would be a bother, but those he could deal with one way or another- sending them off to a fancy private school, claiming that it was for the sake of their education.

He had met Maddie's daughter earlier, and he had found her to be a bright young girl, and doubted that he would have any problems there. She seemed to take after her mother, and just as her mother was a wonderful, charming woman, it seemed that Jasmine was also an intelligent, charming young lady. Her, Vlad could deal with.

But he didn't care for Maddie's son at all. He couldn't quite place it what it was that bothered him so intensely- perhaps it was the boy's abnormally intense gaze. Perhaps it had something to do with they way he appeared to be watching him, even when he didn't seem to be looking in his direction. It felt as if Vlad were prey, and Daniel was the predator, and he did not like that one bit. He would be sure to tell Daniel exactly how the power dynamic worked later- as if _he _would ever be intimidated by a fifteen year old boy.

Well, it didn't matter very much. He didn't exactly expect the boy to be much of a hindrance in his plans. After all, what reason would anyone have to suspect that the famous billionaire, Vlad Masters, would be half ghost? No one, and no one had any reason to even suspect that such things could possibly exist in this world.

Vlad _would _be getting his revenge, and no odd fifteen year old boy would stand in his way of doing so. Soon he would have everything that he ever wanted in life- well, save for the Packers, but that was an entirely _different _evil scheme. Maddie would be his, and his alone and as for Jack?

Well, he wouldn't be _able _to say anything in the matter soon enough.


End file.
